


She Loves Me

by Madaboutagirl



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe- Krypton, F/F, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-02
Updated: 2016-09-11
Packaged: 2018-07-28 21:59:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 14
Words: 39,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7658305
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Madaboutagirl/pseuds/Madaboutagirl
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>AU begins on Krypton, the planet was stabilized; James Olsen and Cat Grant visit Argo City in a bid to expand CATCO; Cat meets Kara Zor-El, the Editor-in-Chief of The Argo City Gazette. This one began as a fluffy adaptation of You've Got Mail, but then plot happened. The CATCO crew flees Krypton accused of hacking the government, the frame up involves Kara's girlfriend and Kara realizes that she is under investigation, so she returns to Earth to get help from Alex Danvers, a friend from her youth whom she met during an exchange program. </p><p>Characters and most Kryptonian info derived from DC Universe and CBS/CW, other stuff is of my own headcanon. Eventual SuperCat.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

"Originally, my grandfather created The Argo City Gazette to provide all Kryptonians up to date information regarding the state of the planet," Kara begins her presentation with a slideshow of early photos of In-Ze working at the newspaper. Taking care to touch on several key stories from Krypton's past. She agreed to speak at her alma mater on career day, but no one seems that interested, in fact all she can see are bored faces staring back at her from the classroom.

Kara decides that it's time to switch to the multi-media presentation, as she grabs the remote, she says distinctly, "My aunt, Astra In-Ze took over The Gazette about ten ahmzet ago…" everyone in the room adjusts their position to better see the screen as the video begins with coverage of Astra announcing that she was taking over from her father.

"I began working at The Gazette when I was your age, as an intern and I was still there helping my grandfather as assistant editor when it transitioned from him to my aunt. It was a tumultuous time in Argo City, there were many who thought that the planet couldn't be saved unless drastic measures were taken and Astra and Non were the leaders of those people, they called themselves KryptoWatch. Many of you may not know that KryptoWatch actually began as an advisory organization to the Science Council," Kara pauses here and a murmur goes through the crowd, she has their complete attention now.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Darling, how did it go today at the Academy?' Alura asks her daughter over dinner.

"The usual, they were bored until I spoke about KryptoWatch and Aunt Astra, I don't understand, children today have no sense of history. They only want to be entertained," she complains before adding, "I did get two possible students interested in internships," Kara adds.

"Well that's great," Zor-El exclaims. "Especially since they don't really teach KryptoWatch at the academy, I'm surprised that they let you mention it. The new headmaster thinks that by not teaching it, they will prevent another batch of terrorists from being created," he says clearly disagreeing with this theory.

"Well, they may not ask me back to career day," Kara admits a bit embarrassed by her actions, "but did they really think that I would leave that out of my presentation? It was my own internship at their age that gave me the knowledge that I needed to resurrect The Gazette after KryptoWatch practically destroyed it," she exclaims.

"You did an amazing job, darling. Your grandfather would be so proud of you," Alura replies reaching out and squeezing her daughter's hand across the dinner table.

"Thank you Mother," Kara replies her eyes lighting up proudly.

"Kara, now that The Gazette is back on track, don't you think you should appoint a new Editor-in-Chief and return to the Science Council?" Zor-El asks his daughter.

"Father," Kara begins, but he cuts her off.

"Kara, you are a brilliant scientist with so much potential, Krypton needs you in the Science Council. We have stabilized the planet, but we need the best and brightest monitoring it to ensure that it remains stable," he reminds her.

"Father, The Gazette is keeping people informed. It is because of my past working on the Science Council that I am able to act as a liaison and explain the Council's decisions to the public. This is an important role, even if you don't see it or agree," Kara points out as respectfully as possible.

"Well, I believe that Kryptonians are smart enough to know that their planet is in decline and the Science Council is the only thing keeping us from total destruction," Zor-El says pointedly staring at his wife.

"Zor-El, we agreed not to discuss this tonight," Alura says tightly.

"Mother, not discuss what? Is the planet still in danger? I thought the latest readings were positive?" Kara blurts out the questions quickly.

Alura glares at her husband from across the table, challenging him to answer Kara's questions.

"Kara, come by the office for lunch this week and we'll go over the new reports. I can't release them yet, but I will review them with you," Zor-El concedes. "They are worrisome," he adds.

Kara nods to him and bites her lip nervously, a thousand questions running through her head that she can't wait to ask.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara, CATCO Intergalactic Media is meeting with my father today, they want to lease out Aspirion Towers," Kal-El remarks over breakfast.

"Kal-El, Aspirion towers is a prominent Argo City landmark, it is a symbol of our golden age of progress," Kara blurts out.

"That's exactly what I said," Kal-El replies. "And I reminded him that, his grandfather Feln-El, built the towers as a symbol to Kryptonians that the House of El would always be here to guide them. What kind of message would he be sending Krypton if he allows aliens to occupy it?"

"Kal-El, please say Earthling and not Alien, you don't want to sound like those Kandorian bigots," Kara counters.

"Alien just means not of this planet Kara," he reminds her. "It's perfectly acceptable to use the word 'alien', even if the Kandorians use it derogatorily to refer to anyone not from Kandor."

"Thanks for the linguistics lesson Kal-El. But I've still banned it from use in The Gazette," she replies. "Now what exactly do you think CATCO Media is up to? Why Krypton? Why now?" Kara asks.

"Father says 75% of Kryptonians subscribe to the Intergalactic News and he wasn't surprised that they would want to place an office here," Kal-El explains.

"The Gazette readership is only at 65 percent, you mean that more Kryptonians follow her news site than mine?" Kara blurts out.

"Kara, you know how Kryptonians are, they always want to seem more otherworldly than they are. You are winning them back, 65 percent is better than the 20 percent you had when you took it over," he reminds her.

"Kal-El, what if they are coming in here to compete with me and shut me down. I can't compete with an Intergalactic News empire," Kara says realizing what it means to have CATCO on Krypton.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"A latte, it is made with espresso, you have espresso on this planet, don't you?" The woman asks impatiently in English as she fumbles trying to use a translator app on her phone to communicate with the barista.

Kara steps forward and easily translates the woman's request for the Kandorian behind the counter.

"Oh, thank you, I know a little Kryptonian and this app was supposed to help me," the woman explains turning slightly towards the taller blonde. "Your English is excellent, by the way," she says with a sly smile.

"Thank you. Your app doesn't take the Kandorian dialect into account and Latte doesn't translate to Kryptonian. We actually don't have coffee here, the beans won't grow in our soil. I've ordered you the Kryptonian equivalent of a Latte, see what you think," Kara says laughing as she explains it to the other woman.

Cat finds herself laughing along, drawn in easily by this enchanting woman. "Catherine, Catherine Foster," she says extending her hand and introducing herself with her lesser known name.

Taking the offered hand, Kara replies, "Kara Zor-El, welcome to Argo City, Ms Foster."

"Kara Zor-El," Cat repeats the name, then suddenly realizes why it's familiar.

"Have you heard of me? I mean, I am the Editor-in-Chief of The Argo City Gazette," she says nervously. Then self-consciously glances over at her office across the street, where there's a large photo of her in the window announcing her latest book launch.

Cat follows Kara's eyes and smiles, "Those photos do not do you justice, Ms Zor-El," Cat says almost breathlessly, surprised that she's practically swooning over this woman. Cat Grant hasn't swooned over anyone in a very long time.

"Publicity is always better when it's not your own, but it does sell books and newspapers," Kara admits shyly as she reaches over to grab their drinks. Cat reaches for her own and their hands collide a bit awkwardly.

"Well, this isn't terrible, at least it's hot," Cat says taking a tentative sip of the beverage. Then pulling out her intergalactic credit card, she looks for the card reader to pay, but Kara places her hand over the reader.

"It's my treat," Kara says taking a sip of her own cup and smiling again.

Damn this woman, between her beguiling smile and the extra pull of gravity from the red sun, Cat has to close her eyes for a moment so that she can think clearly.

"What brings you to Argo City, Ms Foster?" Kara asks, receiving no answer she reaches out to get Cat's attention and the woman flinches at the touch.

"Excuse me, I'm still adjusting to your planet," Cat explains. "Inter-galaxy travel is so much worse than jet lag."

"I have it on good authority that it takes Earthlings a week to adjust to our gravity," Kara remarks taking another sip of her Thonie tea.

"That's good to know," Cat replies curiously, before asking, "You've met Earthlings before?".

"Yes, I have a good friend who lives there, on Earth. She is like a sister to me," Kara replies her eyes twinkling happily.

Cat returns the smile, thinking to herself how the press would have a field day with the sight of Cat Grant grinning like an idiot at this attractive woman. Taking a moment, she glances around for paparazzi until she remembers that she is on Krypton and the only press in sight is the woman standing in front of her. Then remembering the question asked earlier, Cat responds. 

"Actually, I'm here for a few weeks on business and I'm staying at Arcadian Towers, suite 4100. Call me sometime, I'd enjoy visiting with you again," Cat says extending her hand, this time taking a moment to linger on the handshake, causing Kara to look down at their hands curiously. "Oh and thank you again for the coffee," she says warmly as she lets go of Kara's hand and walks away.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Returning to her office, Kara lets out a sigh. Curious, she heads right to her computer and commands it to search the Earth database for Katherine Foster, nothing returns, it returns an author profile and list of books, all fiction. The photos are not of the same woman.

"Ms Zor-El?" Ja-Ron asks from the doorway to the office.

"Yes, Ja-Ron," Kara replies looking over to him.

"I have the layouts for tomorrow's edition, if you'd like to review them," he says handing her the file.

"I'll review them, thank you," she replies as he enters and sets the file on her desk.

"I've already made notes for you," he points out eagerly. "Just a few small changes needed, they look really good."

Ja-Ron has been her assistant for over a year now and lately he's been trying to show her that he's ready for more responsibility. Previewing the layouts and making notes is just one of the many things that he's begun doing for her.

Kara takes the file and glances through it quickly. Go ahead and approve it with these changes," she replies with a smile.

"Thank you Ms Zor-El," he replies backing out of the room.

"Kal-X," Kara says loudly, commanding her other assistant to appear.

"Hello Kara Zor-El, how can I help you today?" Kal-X says entering her office a moment later.

"What do we know about CATCO Media?" She asks.

"CATCO Intergalactic Media is an Earth based media corporation, it is the largest in the galaxy commonly known as the Milky Way. They have satellites on Mars and Saturn, but recently decided to expand to Krypton. The president of the company is James Olsen, he is currently on Krypton scouting locations for a new office," Kal-X informs her and displays a photo of Olsen.

"Hmm," Kara murmurs to herself as she reviews the information.

"CATCO Media was founded by Cat Grant, who remains the CEO of the Earth based operations in National City, California, USA," Kal-X adds.

"Are there no photos available of her?" Kara asks surprised.

"Photos of Cat Grant are not available," Kal-X replies.

"Wow, I guess that's one of the perks of being the Queen of all Media," Kara quips to herself.

"All photos were removed from the database at the request of CATCO media after a multiple vehicle accident that killed a family of four," Kal-X continues and then provides a link to the story.

"Rao," Kara says solemnly reading the story quickly and thankful that Krypton doesn't have a celebrity culture like Earth does.

"What can you tell me about Catherine Foster?" Kara asks remembering her earlier search.

"Robert and Catherine Foster announce the birth of their son, Adam Foster," Kal-X says linking to a micro clip from an old newspaper, the photo is quite grainy, but Kara thinks maybe it's the same woman.

Kara spends another hour researching Robert and Adam Foster and gleans just a few meager details about Catherine Foster, but no recent photos. Still curious about the woman and why she's on Krypton, Kara decides to message her at the Arcadian Tower.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat is entering her suite when a small robot approaches her. "Ms Catherine Foster, I have a message from Kara Zor-El," it announces.

"Fine. What is the message?" Cat asks curiously. She is not used to these robots roaming the office freely, although James is quite enamored with them.

"It was lovely to meet you today," Kara replies through the robot and for a second Cat is confused. Is this a phone call or a message? "I would like to offer you a tour of The Gazette, I believe that you mentioned an interest in publishing."

"Your reply is requested Ms Catherine Foster," the robot prompts.

Cat grimaces. As soon as Kara Zor-El introduced herself Cat realized that she'd made a mistake and should have steered clear of The Gazette, now that she has met the woman, the last thing she wants is a hostile takeover to ruin their budding friendship. 

"Thank you Kara Zor-El, I would very much like to tour your facility. But my schedule is a bit up in the air right now," Cat replies.

"Up in the air? Your language is so interesting and challenging, I am taking this to mean that you are unsure of your availability," Kara replies through Kal-X.

Cat smiles, for a non-native speaker, Kara's ability to decipher American idioms is remarkable. "Yes, I am unsure of my availability at the moment," Cat confirms.

And after another exchange Kara signs off and Cat is left alone wondering what it is about this woman that seems so utterly attractive. Kara is beautiful, but her beauty is on a different level. Is that a Kryptonian thing? Cat wonders to herself.


	2. Chapter 2

The booming voice of James Olsen interrupts her reverie and Cat almost jumps out of her seat.

"Hey Cat, Leyeh just sent those reports that you requested. And the Judicial Council has agreed to meet with you about the discovery of Hellgrammites in National City, although they deny banishing them there," James says. "It's all set for 2 pm tomorrow," he adds.

"Tomorrow!" Cat blurts out. "I've been trying to set this meeting up for a week and they give me less than 24 hours notice," she snaps angrily.

James just shrugs. "Oh, hey would you like to try the Millennial Cafe tonight. Kal-X recommended that we try the swordfish," he says raising his eyebrows playfully.

"Intergalactic seafood? I don't think so, I'll stick to locally sourced food, god only knows how that swordfish got here," Cat quips.

"Fresh seafood is delivered weekly, it is cryogenically frozen when caught and then sent by rocket to Kandor," Kal-X informs her.

"Cryogenically frozen when caught?" Cat exclaims. "Is that a thing? James, how did we not know swordfish were being exported intergalactically?"

"Cat we are here on a planet that's not even in our own galaxy, there is an interactive robot computer in your office and imported swordfish is what you find shocking?" James asks mocking her playfully.

"Don't mock me James. You may be president of CATCO Intergalactic, but I am still the majority shareholder of CATCO Media. You still work for me," she reminds him sharply.

James is used to this rebuke by now, it used to scare him, but after five years he knows that she only half means it. "I made reservations for 8, meet you downstairs for drinks at 7?" He asks.

Cat nods, before going over to her desk to look over the reports on The Gazette that she asked Layeh to compile for her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wow! These Kryptonian women are gorgeous," James exclaims as they sit at the hotel bar having drinks.

"It must be this gravitational pull, it's stronger. It would stand to reason that they burn more calories just walking around," Cat quips, then considers it herself. "I wonder if that applies to humans… I should ask Kara," she mumbles to herself.

"Kara?" James questions. "Who is Kara?"

"I went over to check out The Gazette and I stopped for a latte at the cafe across the street. I sort of ran into Kara Zor-El today," Cat explains reverently.

"Cat, I thought you weren't going to interfere with this?" James asks annoyed, not noticing her expression.

"I'm not interfering. I was just curious and thought I'd play tourist and just go check it out," Cat confesses. "It was the middle of the afternoon, I didn't realize that she would get her own coffee. She's an executive, she should have an assistant do that," she adds.

"Wait, did she know why you were there? Did she know who you were?" He questions.

"I didn't exactly tell her who I was or why I was there. I told her my name was Catherine Foster. I couldn't tell her that I was Cat Grant, that would have spoiled the conversation. Wait until you meet her, you'll understand," Cat replies quickly.

"I meet her on Thursday and she's a journalist Cat, she's going to figure it out," James reminds her as he takes a large sip of his scotch. "I still don't understand why you feel the need to hide the fact that you came on this trip," he adds.

"I'm investigating the Kryptonian government and Catherine Foster is legally my name, so it's not as if I am lying to anyone," she points out. "Besides, it's better that they don't know who I am, they'll cooperate with a random CATCO reporter more than they will with me."

"Cat you really think that no one on Krypton knows that you're Cat Grant?" James asks cheekily.

"I paid that IT consultant an exorbitant amount to scrub my photos from the internet after the accident, I suppose that we will find out if I got my money's worth now," Cat quips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat and James enter the Millennial Cafe and can't help but be impressed. The design of the room only enhances the view of the spires that make up the skyline of Argo City. The red sun is just beginning to set and it is casting beautiful shadows of pink and salmon across the sky.

"I have to get pictures of this view," James says breathlessly.

"Please do," Cat remarks in awe as she stands beside him.

"Olsen, two for dinner at 8. We are a bit early," he admits to the hostess waiting for them to approach.

"It will just be a few minutes, would you care to wait in the lounge?" She asks and then both nod and follow her.

James orders them both drinks and as he returns to the table he gasps again. "Wow. Just wow," he stammers looking at the two women who just entered. Cat looks up and her eyes widen at the sight of Kara Zor-El in formal wear with an attractive woman on her arm. Cat turns away, thankful that James is there for her to hide behind.

The hostess snaps to attention and immediately leads them across the dining room to the center table. Another couple enters as the hostess returns to her station and again, she reacts the same way, leading the next couple to the same table.

"I think that last couple was Mr and Mrs Zor-El," James remarks.

"Kara Zor-El was the taller one in the first couple," Cat replies taking a sip of her martini.

"Wait, I've seen her photos on her book jackets and she is attractive, but that is hot model level attractive," he exclaims.

"Well, now you understand my earlier dilemma," Cat quips as the hostess returns to show them to their table. 

If Cat was smitten with Kara before, the sight of her in formal wear dining at the best table in the restaurant has the media mogul questioning her stance on love at first sight. Cat breathlessly watches Kara hold herself gracefully, even her laugh is elegant. Finally, Cat turns her chair slightly so she can avoid staring at the other table.

"You realize that she's sitting there with her parents and her girlfriend," James points out noticing Cat's preoccupation.

Cat rolls her eyes. "Yes, obviously she is involved, so don't think for one minute that I am going to do anything to embarrass myself here," Cat replies sharply. Yes, she realizes that this girl crush she has on Kara Zor-El is unprofessional, but her intention is to just befriend the woman. Cat doesn't make friends easily and the distraction will help her get through the weeks here on this planet away from her family.

Across the room Kara can feel the other woman's eyes on her, but she is hesitant to draw attention to her. Kara may not be that experienced with relationships, but she could feel an instant attraction to Catherine Foster and she's fairly certain it was mutual. Now, she just needs to keep her distance from the other woman, she'll only be here a few weeks and Mala's insecurity has only gotten worse. Kara understands, when her first book was published, it was unsettling to be recognized and approached by strangers, but she would have thought that her girlfriend would be used to it by the third book release.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat sits on the enclosed balcony of her suite looking out over the lights of Argo City. It is breathtakingly beautiful and unlike any city lights she's ever seen before. Which is fitting she thinks amused that it looks other worldly and it literally is other worldly.

Her thoughts are interrupted by Kal-X. "Ms Catherine Foster, you have an incoming message from Carter Grant," the robot states approaching her.

"Can we switch to visual feed, Kal-X?" Cat asks getting more comfortable with the robot.

"Yes, there is a two minute satellite delay with visual feed," Kal-X explains.

"Mom, I miss you so much," Carter blurts out when her image appears on his computer screen.

"I miss you too, my beautiful boy. I was just thinking of sending you a message," Cat says clapping her hands together excited to see her son's image projected on the screen. "Kal-X come here to the window and show him the view," she adds.

"Mom, who are you talking too?" Carter asks, then goes quiet as he looks out at the lights of Argo City. "Whoa," he says softly.

"They use these robots here for, well, almost everything. They are called Kal-X and this one is in my suite, he or rather, it helps me. It can make dinner reservations, take messages while I'm out, send messages for me when I'm here. In fact this call is streaming through Kal-X now," Cat explains knowing her son will be excited about the robot.

"Mom, I want to go to Krypton next time, please?" He pleads.

"We will have to see. It's very different here, Carter. The gravity is stronger. It is worse than the jetlag that we got on the Australia trip," Cat says reminding him that they were in Australia for three days before he spent more than an hour out of the hotel room at a time.

"It looks so cool," he replies and looks over at his father. "Um Mom, Dad wants to talk to you now. I love you, goodnight," Carter says quickly blowing her a kiss like he did as a child.

Cat reaches up to grab it, but with the delay, she doesn't know if he saw her. Smiling to herself she looks up at Robert and is surprised to see the look of awe on his face.

"You're really on another planet?" He marvels out loud. "Adam sends his love, he's still at the office," Robert explains.

"Yes, I am on Krypton. Richard Branson isn't the only one who can travel to other planets," she quips playfully.

"I know, I know. But Krypton, that's really impressive Cat," he admits. "I just wanted you to know that Carter is doing really well but he misses you like crazy, so be careful and get back soon."

Cat tries to mask her shock at Robert's words, then remembering the delay, she quickly thanks him and says good night, making a note to send a message to Adam tomorrow.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hellgramites are not native to Krypton," Alura states firmly.

"I realize that, but this one spoke Kryptonian," Cat points out.

"That means nothing," Alura counters. "I am speaking English now and I am still Kryptonian."

Cat looks down, the other woman makes a valid point.

"The US Government scientists found a ship in the desert, it had these markings on it," Cat replies handing over a few photos to the committee.

The four members of the council lean towards Alura and review the photos. Discussing them in Kryptonian, Cat can only make out a few words, not enough to understand what they're saying though.

"These marking indicate the ship was built in Kandor," Alura admits reluctantly. "It could possibly be one of our prison ships."

"A prison ship?" Cat questions. "What exactly do you do with these prison ships?"

"Prison ships are sent to the phantom zone," Alura replies. "They are held there in stasis, indefinitely."

"Held in stasis, indefinitely? Then just how did it get to Earth?" Cat asks angrily. "And how many of these prison ships are out there in the phantom zone? Could more of them end up on Earth?"

"We don't know that any of them have landed on Earth," Alura cautions.

"Do you keep records of who is on these so-called prison ships? Perhaps if I can provide a list of extraterrestrials that my government has detained, then we could determine if this is actually one of your prison ships," Cat inquires.

The council whispers again among themselves and it's obvious from their body language that they are not going to provide anything further, so Cat muddles through the rest of the meeting, trying to focus, while considering what other options are available.

"You're not serious?" Lucy Lane is speechless as she listens to Cat's recap of her meeting with the Judicial Board. "They have launched countless prison ships out into space and they could be landing anywhere?"

"Yes, apparently, they believed that they were banishing them to this so-called phantom zone for an eternal life of stasis," Cat explains. "Remind me not to break any laws here on Krypton," she quips.

"Okay, I'll see what I can find out through my government contacts. But Cat, I doubt that they will release a list of captured extraterrestrials to the media though," Lucy replies thoughtfully.

"Tell them where I am and why I need it," Cat snaps back. "And I'll sign whatever to get it," she adds.

"You'd sign a government non-disclosure?" Lucy asks.

"Yes, it wouldn't be the first time. Just make sure that it's limited to only what they provide," Cat points out.


	3. Chapter 3

"Hello Catherine," Kara says greeting her the next morning in the lobby. Kara couldn't help but agree to the late night request for a tour this morning. In fact the thought of spending time with Catherine this morning seemed like a perfect balm for Kara's frayed nerves after another evening of arguing with Mala over everything and anything.

Cat smiles, she's never enjoyed being called Catherine before but she has to admit that with Kara's slight accent it sounds lovely.

"Good morning Kara Zor-El," Cat replies understanding that Kryptonian culture is more formal than what she is used to. "Thank you for agreeing to give me a tour this morning."

"Of course, and you can, um Kara is fine," she says with a smile. "My assistant will be right back with refreshments, would you like to come into my office to wait?" Kara asks with a dazzling smile.

Cat follows Kara into her office and is surprised to see multiple screens and computer monitors with an assortment of news stories. Cat smiles as it reminds her of her own office.

"I didn't realize there were that many different sources of news here on Krypton," Cat remarks.

"Well, the local Argo City News is actually just reported from The Gazette by Mala Z-Wu," Kara nods towards the screen in the middle.

"She's beautiful," Cat says and Kara blushes.

"She is," Kara agrees softly.

Ja-Ron chooses this moment to appear with their coffees and a small plate of scones.

"Thank you Ja-Ron, you can just leave those on the table," Kara replies moving over to sit on the chair beside the couch.

"Please Catherine, sit and have a scone before we begin the tour," Kara says gesturing to the couch beside her.

"I am usually just a coffee person, but here, I wake up every morning ravenous," Cat admits sitting down.

"Oh, you can eat whatever you want while you're on Krypton. You are burning twice the calories on this planet due to the stronger gravitational pull," Kara explains.

"That is the best news that I've heard since I arrived," Cat exclaims picking up a napkin and a scone.

Kara watches her nibble on the scone a moment and then smiles. Alex was the same way, when she found out that she could eat whatever she wanted here the way that Kara could on Earth, she ate every other hour.

"So, you haven't mentioned what brought you to Krypton, Catherine," Kara inquires.

Cat appreciates the woman's subtly and notes that she may be a better journalist than Cat was giving her credit for. "I am here on business, traveling with the CEO of my company," Cat remarks, not exactly lying. "James is here evaluating Krypton as a possible location for our first intergalactic office," she adds.

"Is that why you're here? Are you James' assistant?" Kara asks confused because Catherine doesn't seem like she would be anyone's assistant.

A smile plays over Cat's face at the thought of anyone thinking that she was James' assistant, then she laughs a bit.

"I said something wrong, I am so sorry Catherine," Kara apologizes immediately.

"No, it's fine. I did start out as someone's assistant, but that was quite a while ago," Cat admits.

"How did you start out Kara? Did you always want to work on The Gazette?" Catherine asks, hoping to get the focus off of her.

"As a child I wanted to be an explorer, then an artist. I never intended to be a writer, but after traveling to Earth, my grandfather asked me to write him a story about it. Then he edited it, brutally, I might add. And then he published it and it was very well received. He convinced me to become his intern and now here I am, ten years later, Editor-in-Chief," she says glancing over to where there's a photo array on the wall.

Cat follows her gaze, then walks over to look at the photos.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to tell you my life story," Kara says shyly looking down.

"You apologize entirely too often, Kara," Cat says a bit sternly. Although she turns back from the photos with a softer expression on her face. "And I did ask," she adds softly.

The softer tone causes Kara to bring her head up quickly, bright warm smile stealing across her face.

"You do realize that your smile works better than any apology?" Cat teases as they both turn away from the pictures and find themselves staring at the large white board. "Is this for your meeting?" Cat asks carefully as she surveys the board covered in Kryptonian writing.

"It is. And since I do have an editorial meeting in an hour, we should probably begin the tour," Kara says going over to turn the white board away from them. It was careless to leave it out for a tour, but at least Catherine doesn't read Kryptonian, she reminds herself.

"Lead the way," Cat replies, pleased that her curiosity inspired her to take a photo of it when she first entered the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat is fascinated by the facility and although there is no actual printing press, she is still impressed that they still follow many of the same steps her Tribune team does before posting The Gazette on line.

"What type of press did your grandfather use, when he did print The Gazette?" Cat asks.

"Oh, he and my father built one. Since we haven't had trees on Krypton in a very long time, our paper is nothing like what you have on Earth and our ink is different too," Kara informs her.

They enter the broadcast area and Cat's interest spikes. She notes the simple news stage with a desk and green screen behind it.

"Mala should be here somewhere," Kara replies glancing around the small group of people still milling about after the morning broadcast. A woman approaches Kara and murmurs to her in Kryptonian and Kara nods and replies back.

"Excuse me, I must go speak with Mala. It will just take a moment," Kara explains before ducking behind the desk and around the screen to a hidden exit.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Who is that woman?" Mala asks when Kara enters her office.

"I told you she's here from Earth on business, I met her this week," Kara says going over to Mala and taking her hands. "She's just here for a tour, please come meet her."

"I don't like meeting aliens," Mala replies. "They are odd and socially inept," she adds.

"Mala, you realize that they feel the same way about us, right?" Kara teases to lighten the mood.

"Kara, please don't make me meet her," Mala replies. "You know that I don't like strangers approaching me," she adds.

"Mala, you're the face of Argo City News. You have to get more comfortable around people," Kara reminds her exhausted from this conversation that they seem to have at least twice a week.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Sor-" Kara catches herself mid-apology. "Mala is indisposed, perhaps you can meet her another time," she adds wringing her hands nervously.

"Of course," Cat replies easily before following Kara out of the broadcast area.

"I just don't know why she acts like that. She usually comes out to meet people on tour," Kara admits still fretting over her girlfriend's refusal to meet Catherine. She stops short of the lobby in an alcove which is somewhat private.

Cat smiles, "Kara, I've been around a lot of on-air talent and I understand that they are different in person than who they pretend to be on air," Cat replies reaching a hand out to rest on Kara's arm to reassure her.

"It's more than that. Mala and I are together, but she can be so selfish sometimes," Kara spits out softly.

Cat removes her hand and places it on her own chin. "Ah, well now I understand even more," she says thoughtfully. Before adding, "Kara, my husband and I are separated, there are many reasons for it, but it usually comes back to the fact that he doesn't like that I'm more successful than he is," Cat remarks with a sad smile.

Kara runs a hand through her hair as she considers Cat's admission. "You're married to a man," she states. "I mean, there's nothing wrong with that," Kara adds. Then hoping to change the subject she asks

"Has leaving your galaxy helped?" Kara questions intently before smiling embarrassed, "Sorry that was not appropriate," she admits.

"No, it's a valid question," Cat replies as a slight smile plays across her lips. "And actually, last night was the first time in a long time that he seemed impressed with something I've done. I showed him the view from my suite. The Argo City skyline is breathtaking at night" she admits.

"The view from Arcadian Towers is one of my favorites too," she remarks with a wistful smile. "May I ask, was the separation at your request or his?" Kara asks carefully, not wanting to pry, but since Catherine mentioned it.

"It was mutual. We've grown apart so much, it seems our sons are the only thing keeping us together," she adds. "So, we're separated again. We have discovered that we get along better apart than we ever did when we were together," Cat explains.

"How did you meet him?" Kara inquires, though she knows that it's getting late and it's almost time for her meeting.

"That is a long story, but to make it brief. We met through business," Cat answers. "How did you and Mala meet?"

"Oh," Kara exclaims thoughtfully. "Mala and I grew up together and were best friends all through Academy," she explains. "Now we practically live together and have been working here for almost five years."

"My experience has been that in these times you either grow together or grow apart, my husband and I did both. As parents we grew together, but as individuals we grew apart," Cat explains.

Ja-Ron appears behind Kara and Cat nods. "I think that it is time for me to let you get back to work," she replies reluctantly as Kara turns to see her assistant.

"Yes," Kara admits. "Catherine, you have given me much to think about, perhaps we could meet for lunch next week to continue this conversation?"

"I'd like that very much," Cat replies brightly.

Kara leans in and gives her a light hug, "You are very kind," she says. Then feeling Cat stiffen in her arms she pulls back a bit. "Is it not customary on Earth to hug friends goodbye?" Kara asks suddenly afraid that she has done something wrong.

Cat softens and returns the hug. "Yes, it is. You, ah, you caught me by surprise,," she stammers a bit embarrassed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat sits at her desk looking out over Argo City. She hasn't gotten much done since she returned from the tour. She is waiting to talk with James about The Gazette. They should work out a deal with Kara to preserve it instead of put it out of business. He's going to think she's going soft, but she's done this before in small markets, this wouldn't be the first regional paper that she's saved.

A light knock on her door startles her, James usually knocks and then enters, but when the door doesn't open, Cat goes over to it and opens it herself. No one's there, but there's a small parcel on the floor, so she gently nudges it inside and shuts the door again.

"Kal-X, would you ask James Olsen to come to my suite ASAP?" Cat asks out loud, unsure if the robot works that way. A slight whirring sound behind her indicates the robot's presence.

"Yes, Cat Grant would that be all?" Kal-X asks.

"That's all," Cat replies. Then a moment later she realizes the robot didn't call her Catherine Foster.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey Cat, what's going on?" James asks a few minutes later entering her suite.

"Kal-X would you please leave the suite?" Cat asks the robot.

"Kal-X does not have range outside of this suite," the robot replies.

"Fine," Cat grumbles and motions for James to follow her out to the enclosed patio.

"Cat?" James questions again.

"That box was left on my doorstep, addressed to Cat Grant and the robot is calling me Cat Grant. James, someone is not so subtly telling me they are on to me," she points out.

"Hmm," he replies worriedly. "Uh, Do you want me to open that?" He asks gesturing to the box.

"Yes," Cat snaps, because there is no planet where she opens mysterious boxes by herself.

James sighs and then reenters the suite to retrieve the parcel and bring it out to where they are.

"I'll just step back in there," Cat says moving away from him and sliding the door closed as James tears open the small parcel.

"It's just a thumb drive," James says holding it up for her to see. Then looking inside the small box again, he reaches in and pulls out a folded piece of paper, "Oh and here's a note."

Curious, Cat slides open the door again.

"I know who you are and what you want. Take this and leave Krypton by the end of the week and your secrets are safe." James reads the note out loud, then reads it again to himself. "Cat, let me have this checked out," he says still looking at what appears to be a thumb drive like the many that they use at CATCO. "This looks like one of ours," he points out.

"This may be related to my meeting today and my call to Lucy," Cat remarks.

"You called Lucy Lane today?" He asks curiously.

"She is still my general council and she still has contacts at the Pentagon," Cat reminds him.

"Yes, yes she does," he replies keenly aware that Lucy dated someone at the Pentagon after their last break up.

"Well, you find out what's going on with that and I'll look into this other issue," Cat replies.

"Uh, Cat, I think that we should have Winn look into this, if there's a breach, he'll find it," James replies confidently. It was his idea to bring the IT consultant on the trip, knowing that he would jump at the chance to travel to another planet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This is one of our thumb drives, but it's full of private documents from the judicial council. They appear to be prisoner records, but they're mostly in Kryptonian. I have contained them on the private server that I set up to keep your work documents secure," Winn explains.

"Any chance that one of those documents is a manifest for a prison ship?" Cat asks.

"I've only been able to identify a few of the documents, so anything is possible. It would really help if we had a Kryptonian to help us," Winn points out.

"I don't think that we should risk that," James answers.

"I still don't understand how someone could have discovered my identity. I traveled here on my personal passport and I used my alternate press credentials yesterday at the Judicial Council office," she replies idly tapping her reading glasses against her bottom lip. "There is nothing here to identify me as Cat Grant," she add adamantly.

"But you went from The Gazette to the Judicial Council," James points out.

"Yes, but I came back here between and changed clothes," Cat replies quickly.

"Is there a chance that The Gazette is also investigating this story?" James asks the next obvious question.

"If they are, then it would have been on the editorial storyboard in Kara's office," Cat explains, then adds, "Winn, here's a photo of it, can you get it translated?" She asks as she pulls her phone out and sends him the photo.

"Cat, really?" James just shakes his head. "I can't believe that you did that. That's corporate espionage," he points out.

"No," she replies defensively. "I wasn't snooping, it was right there in front of me," she adds.

"But does Kara Zor-El know that you took a photo of it?" He asks.

"No, but she knows that I saw it. She turned it away from me," Cat points out.

"Fine, so what if this tells us that she knows about the prison ship, are you going to suggest that we work with her on the story that will expose her mother's negligence?" James asks.

"Well, if she is investigating her mother, don't you think that she may already suspect it?" Cat counters.


	4. Chapter 4

"Where did these documents come from?" Kara asks. It's late evening and Kara's day has been exhausting. She was just about to head out when Mala and Ja-Ron entered her office and handed her the tablet loaded with files.

"These are the notes from the meeting today between your mother's council and the earthling reporter, Catherine Foster," Mala points out.

"Are you're saying that Catherine Foster is a reporter here to investigate whether a Kryptonian prison ship crashed on Earth?" Kara questions as she quickly scans the file. "That's impossible, I've searched every database for Catherine Foster and there is nothing about her being a reporter," she snaps at her girlfriend. "Not to mention, prison ships are sent to the phantom zone and everyone knows that there is no escaping it."

"Of course you did," Mala replies sarcastically. "But Catherine Foster was the name on the press credentials that she showed at the Judicial Council," she points out showing Kara a photo of Catherine's press badge.

Kara frowns, she still can't understand why Catherine would lie to her. Was the guise of friendship faked too, she wonders.

"How do we really know that there's no escaping the phantom zone?" Ja-Ron asks interrupting her thoughts.

Shaking off the personal thoughts, Kara shifts back to journalist mode, "How did you get these documents from the Judicial Council meeting?" Kara asks her girlfriend, then turning to her assistant. "How did you get access to that?"

Ja-Ron looks nervously over Kara's shoulder to Mala.

"Mala, did your cousin hack into their system?" Kara turns to ask her angrily.

"Kara, Hu-Wu works for the Kryptonian government, he's an official not a hacker," Mala reminds her girlfriend.

"Mala, I can't use stolen documents or information leaked anonymously by a government official" Kara points out.

"Fine, don't use them," Mala counters sullenly.

"Ja-Ron destroy this file," Kara says handing it back to him.

"What if I can verify them independently, then we can use the information?" Ja-Ron asks.

"No. We would still need to explain why we went looking for this information and using stolen documents to guide our investigation would still cause people to question our integrity," Kara points out to both of them. Then turning to face her girlfriend she asks angrily, "Mala, what were you thinking?"

Mala glares at Ja-Ron until he leaves them alone. Then turning back to Kara, she snaps, "Kara, I did it to protect you. You are too trusting. I went to see my father today and I saw that woman there at the Judicial office. She lied to you about being a reporter, what else did she lie about to get what she wanted from you," Mala questions sharply.

Kara paces the office slowly going back over her conversations with Catherine. "Mala, I need to discuss this with Kal-El," Kara says distracted by the myriad of thoughts racing through her head. Would Catherine really use her this way?

"Fine, but just remember that I am the one who looking out for you and I am the one who protected you from this alien reporter, Kara," Mala replies angrily.

Kara returns the angry gaze and takes a deep breath trying to gather her thoughts.

"This is why I don't like aliens. You just can't trust them," Mala snaps back before storming out of the office.

Watching Mala storm out, Kara sighs. She just needs take a moment and think this through. Was this whole thing with Catherine just a set up? And if it was, was it about CATCO evaluating The Gazette and Argo City News or was it about the prison ship?

"Kal-X, contact Kal-El, inform him that I need him right away," Kara barks out to the robot.

"Yes, Kara Zor-El," Kal-X replies whirring into the room. "Kal-El is on his way."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You did what?" Mala went to see her cousin after her disagreement with Kara.

"That Catherine Foster person is actually Cat Grant, the Queen of All Media herself," Hu-Wu explains.

"But why would you send her those documents?" Mala questions.

"You wanted her to leave, now she's got what she wanted so she'll leave," he replies.

"It was one thing to give the stolen documents to Kara, Hu-Wu, now you've leaked them to aliens! Are you crazy?" Mala asks flabbergasted. "You could be arrested for that!" she screams.

"Mala, I used one of their own thumbdrives to save the documents on, I even hacked into their system and used it to hack into the Judicial Council, the whole thing can be traced back to the aliens," he says proudly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Here's the problem," Winn has been up all night examining the documents and trying to figure out how they were saved to one of CATCO's own thumbdrives. "Whoever stole them did it by hacking into our system and making it look like we hacked in and stole them ourselves," he explains.

"Wait, I thought you said we were on a private server here and linked to our main frame on the ship," James replies.

"Well, he must have gotten access to our ship and hacked the server there, that's also where he would have accessed one of our thumbdrives and probably how he figured out who Ms Grant is," Winn remarks. "There are CATCO media guides there," he reminds them.

"James, I think we have no choice but to leave immediately," Cat says slightly panicked. "We've been framed by god knows who and we are aliens here with no rights. I don't usually run from a fight, but I think we have no choice but to return to Earth and continue this investigation there."

James considers it a moment and then quickly agrees. "I'll notify the government, that we are leaving today due to an emergency situation on Earth."

"Good, good, then I'll start packing everything here and moving it back to the ship," Winn says surveying his makeshift IT room.

"No one make any calls to anyone indicating that we are leaving," Cat remarks. "We don't know who we can trust," she points out sadly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're sure that Hu-Wu hacked into the Judicial Council to get these files?" Kal-El questions for the third time.

"Yes, how else would Mala get them," Kara points out. "I still can't believe that she persuaded Ja-Ron to help her."

"Yes, that is surprising," Kal-El remarks. "However, this issue of the prison ships escaping the phantom zone and turning up on Earth is more troubling," he adds.

"Do you think your father will send anyone to investigate it?" Kara asks.

"Send them where? To the phantom zone?" Kal-El blurts out.

"No, Kal-El. He needs to send someone to Earth to round up these criminals," Kara replies. "Kal-El, I don't think that you realize how dangerous it is for our prisoners to be on Earth."

"What do you mean, Kara?" Kal-El asks.

"Kal-El, you know that people from Earth have trouble adjusting to the gravity here on Krypton. Well, the Earth's yellow sun affects us, it, uh, it gives us superior strength and stamina," Kara explains carefully.

"Kara, do you mean that any Kryptonian on Earth has these superior abilities?" Kal-El questions.

"Kal-El, I could fly in the air and lift things that were a thousand times my own weight," Kara replies.

"What exactly do you mean fly in the air?" Kal-El asks. "Like those birds that you like to watch from that Earth channel?"

"Yes, exactly like that Kal-El," she replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"How will we explain all of this to the Board of Directors?" James asks as they wait in quarantine to be cleared to fly home on the CATCO private jet.

"I'm working on it," Cat says glancing up from her computer. "Just find out how much longer before we can be released?" She snaps.

"Um, there's a slight problem," Winn says glancing up from his own computer. "Our quarantine has been extended for another 48 hours, apparently Krypton has issued a travel alert saying that we were exposed to a virus and they are requesting that we return to their planet for treatment."

"That is not going to happen," Cat snaps back and quickly pulls up Skype to connect to Lucy Lane.

"Cat, I just heard about the extended quarantine. I'm reaching out to a friend, just sit tight. I'm on it," Lucy says confidently as her image fills Cat's screen.

"We're not returning to Krypton, the purported virus is a ruse," Cat explains.

"Yes, I am aware of your extenuating circumstance. Winn sent me a secure file detailing the situation," Lucy replies. She's sure that Cat wouldn't divulge anything over the unsecure connection, but then she's run down from the flight, so Lucy gently reminds her.

"Just get someone to examine us, I assure you that we were not exposed to anything but bad coffee and questionable cuisine," Cat replies impatiently.

"I'm working to get a government scientist there to check you out. She's an expert on alien biochemistry, if there is anything alien in your system, she'll find it. Once she clears you, you'll be free to go, so six hours, maybe twelve," Lucy estimates.

Cat sighs, she's exhausted both physically and mentally. Closing the laptop, she then closes her eyes. She wants to take a nap, but she's not sure that she has the energy to walk over to a cot to lay down.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Jor-El, you know that I would never obtain information illegally," Kara says angrily after her father and uncle burst into her office. Ja-Ron didn't destroy the file and Jor-El was able to trace it to the Earthlings and then to Kara's office.

"Explain how you are in possession of these files," Jor-El demands.

"They were sent to the office anonymously. We have done nothing with them," Kara points out.

"Someone in your office is investigating aliens on Earth and cross-referencing them to aliens who have been sentenced to the Phantom Zone," Zor-El counters.

"Father, you know that public records are being used for that research," Kara answers. "And I have my contact with the earthlings was merely social. I was not working with them. In fact, I had no idea that Catherine Foster was even a journalist, I thought she was a tourist."

After much discussion the two men leave and Kara sits worried in her office. This is worse than she thought, she must see Kal-El immediately.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kal-El looks up from his desk when Kara enters and judging by the look of her, she needs to talk. He jumps up to pull out a chair for her and shuts his door.

"Kal-X, power down please," he commands the robot.

"Yes, Kal-El," the robot whines as his power shuts down.

"What's going on Kara? Talk to me," Kal-El says taking her hand.

"Kal-El, I spoke with Alex early this morning and she says their alien problem is out of hand. She's asked me to come help them. And today your father and mine accused me of using a hacker to get those judicial files," Kara explains.

"Kara, I'll tell them what I know," Kal-El replies quickly. "You didn't do anything wrong," he adds.

"No, Kal-El. I don't want you involved. I have secured a pod and I'm going to Earth. Mala has made a mess of everything here. I need to clear my name and redeem our family name," she replies.

"Then I'm coming with you. You can't fight those criminals alone, Kara," he says worriedly.

"I won't be fighting them alone. I'll be working with their government to help contain them. Alex says that she can clear my way, so I am not detained along with them," Kara points out.

"How can I help you?" He questions.

"Take over The Gazette and keep it going for me?" She asks.

"I am not a journalist Kara," he reminds her.

"You have good instincts Kal-El and you know what In-Ze wanted. He wanted us to carry on his legacy, so I'm passing this to you," Kara replies. "And I have a team working on the prison ship story, they are using reports from earth, I will provide additional reports once I am there. Kal-El, we have to break this story. I've never believed in sending people to the phantom zone, maybe we can finally prevent it," she adds.

"Kara, you can't leave like this? How will I know that you're alright?" He questions.

"In-Ze's office has a secure server with a private link to this," Kara explains pulling back her hair to show a small button-like object clipped to her ear. "This allows us to talk, even when I am on Earth," she says with a smile.

"Oh Rao, that's how he always knew that you were okay? Do you parents know about this link?" Kal-El asks.

"No," Kara replies. "Father gave me a watch with a similar feature, but it also allowed him to track my movements, so I'm not taking it with me. Kal-El, I'm trusting you with everything," she points out.

"Do not worry cousin, I understand and I will protect you here on Krypton," Kal-El replies, before pulling her in for a hug.


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Thanks for reading and commenting, you all are awesome!
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara wakes up in the desert, she had aimed the pod for a small lake, but seems to have miscalculated. Pushing the door off, she stumbles out and surveys the area before bolting straight up into the air and flying in a tight circle to make sure no one is coming to investigate her landing. Not seeing any vehicles or hearing anything in the area, she lands easily beside the pod and quickly buries it in the sand. Then with her laser vision, she melts a Kryptonian symbol into the sand so that she can return here when she is ready to fly home.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex turns at the sound of someone outside on her balcony. Grabbing her gun, she rushes to the door, then recognizing Kara, she exclaims, "Oh my god, Kara? You're back?" She exclaims sliding open the door to let her inside.

"Hey," Kara says shyly. "I'm sorry to just show up like this," she apologizes. Then noticing the gun in her hand, Kara looks at her confused.

"Oh, sorry," Alex says setting the gun down on a table. Come in, it's fine. I just... wow, you're here," Alex says a bit shocked as she wraps her arms around her.

"I'm sorry. It's just, I was afraid that they were going to arrest me," Kara replies as she pulls away from the petite brunette.

"Wait, what?" Alex stammers. "Kara, who was going to arrest you?"

"My father and Uncle Jor-El. I escaped Krypton, no one knows that I'm here," Kara explains.

"Kara, that makes no sense. How did you escape?" Alex questions.

"I managed to hide my grandfather's pod after he died. It might be old, but it got me here in one piece," Kara replies.

"Wait, you left Krypton without clearance?" Alex blurts out.

"Yes, and your people still accept refugees, right?" Kara asks.

"Yeah, but our political climate has changed. My government won't see you as a refugee, Kara. They'll see you as an unregistered alien," Alex says covering her face with her hands. "Hold on, I need a drink, then you have to tell me everything," she says as she pours herself a glass of scotch.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The next morning Kara wakes up on the couch to the sound of Alex talking to someone in the other room.

"Hank, I'm going to bring her, just trust me. We need her assistance on this. We'll be there in an hour," Alex says before hanging up the phone. Looking up she sees a worried Kara staring at her from the doorway.

"Are you sure that they won't detain me? I didn't fly two thousand light years just to end up in jail on Earth," Kara points out.

"Yes, I know and they won't detain you. I promise," Alex says reaching out to reassure her.

"Alex, I trust you, but how do you know what your government will do?" Kara asks.

"Well, I, uh, I sort of work for a secret government agency that tracks aliens on Earth," Alex confesses.

"Oh Rao," Kara exclaims. "That's why you have a gun? And now, y-you have to turn me in," she blurts out.

"Yes, no. I'm not exactly turning you in, I'm taking you in to protect you and get you registered. You've been here before, so it will be okay. Look, I even told my boss that you came here to help us round up the prisoners from Krypton," Alex says rapidly. "Hopefully, he'll offer you a job, then you can stay as long as you want, officially," she adds brightly.

"Alex, a job. Here on Earth? Catching criminals that my mother banished to the phantom zone?" Kara questions nervously. "I don't know about that Alex. What if I'm no good at it?" She asks.

"Kara, just come with me to the base and meet with Hank and then decide when you have more information," Alex suggests hopefully. "You can trust Hank, besides you are the main reason that he recruited me. It seems that traveling to Krypton with you and living there for several months made me uniquely qualified to work on an alien task force that investigates alien lifeforms on Earth," Alex explains.

"Okay, I'll go meet him. But can we do it tomorrow? I could really just use a day to relax," Kara says tearfully.

"Shh, look I know, but we have to go to the DEO now because you, uh, you're still an unregistered alien," Alex says, but then she reaches out to take Kara's hand. "Just trust me, I'll take care of this," she adds confidently. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You brought an unrestrained and unregistered alien on to our base!" Hank grumbles after he escorts Kara in to a holding cell.

"Hank, you can't hold her in there! She's practically my family. She's no threat to anyone," Alex yells back at him hoping to get him to listen. 

Hank stands stoney faced. He knows Alex needs to get her emotional outburst out of her system before he can discuss this with her calmly. 

"She was the topic for my dissertation, you recruited me because of her. I swear that we can trust her. And she's here to help us with the alien criminals," Alex continues.

"How can she help us? You think that just because she's a Kryptonian with the same powers as the criminals, that she's going to be able to fight them? She's not trained," he points out.

"So we train her. You trained me to be a fighter and I had zero skills when you first met me," Alex counters.

"You better be right about her," he grumbles turning to enter the holding area. Secretly he hopes that this Kryptonian can help them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Welcome to the DEO, Kara Zor-El, of the House of El and daughter of Zor-El and Alura In-Ze." Hank booms as he enters the holding cell. "The Department of Extranormal Operations. The DEO monitors and protects Earth from extraterrestrial presence and/or invasions," he adds. 

"How is it that you know so much about me?," Kara questions immediately before walking around him slowly to examine him more closely. "You are not of this planet."

Hank steps over and shuts off the coms link before she finishes that sentence. He didn't expect her to be able to detect him so easily.

"What makes you think that I am not of this planet?" He asks turning around slowly to challenge her.

"It takes an alien to know an alien," she replies as she carefully evaluates him. "You may resemble a human, but shape-shifters can resemble anyone," Kara replies confidently. "Show me who you really are," she dares him.

Hank's eyes flash red and he transforms into his real self.

"Martian," Kara says triumphantly. "I met many of your kind during my stay on Mars. Most were welcoming, others were not. I narrowly escaped Mars before the white martians took over the planet," she adds.

"You couldn't have been there at that time," he replies. "The white martians destroyed everyone and everything."

"Yet, you are here, as am I," Kara points out shrewdly. "I assure you that I was there, I investigated the situation for my grandfather's news agency, unofficially," she explains. "Officially, I wrote a book about the experience, I'll send you a link."

Hank is taken aback for a moment, most of what he knows about the alien, he gleaned from reading Alex Danvers' mind. "I thought all Kryptonians were scientists," he remarks after transforming back into Hank Henshaw.

"Many of our people are scientists, but my mother's father was a journalist. I've been carrying on his work," she explains. "What is your martian name?" Kara ask kindly.

"J'onn J'onzz," Hank replies reluctantly. "And this is off the record," he adds quickly. 

"I shall call you J'onn," Kara says pronouncing his name perfectly. 

Hank closes his eyes a moment, it's been years since anyone has called him that. Composing himself he says softly, "Uh, no. No, you can't call me that. No one here knows that I'm not Hank Henshaw."

"Do not worry J'onn, I will only call you that in private," Kara promises with a smile. 

"How... how did you get me to reveal that to you?" Hank blurts out the question.

Kara shrugs and they stare at each other a moment.

"J'onn, you can trust me. I know what it's like to be unknown on a strange planet," she says moving forward to rest a hand on his arm.

Still unsure of the young woman, he looks at her intently. Confused and worried that he's trusting her with too much.

"When I returned to Krypton with the story of what was happening on Mars, my grandfather and went before the Intergalactical Council to implore them to intervene in the conflict," Kara informs him. 

Hank looks at her a moment, he wants to believe her, but everything he knows about her species is at odds with the girl in front of him. "Kryptonians do not help anyone but other Kryptonians," he bellows angrily.

Kara frowns. "Your impression of Kryptonian is based on our refusal to accept refugees. But that was done out of necessity, our planet was dying and barely able to sustain the lives that were there," Kara explains. "It's not that we didn't want to help, we were unable to help, our very planet was on the verge of collapse."

"Yet it is stable now," he points out.

"It is, but only because we were able to make the necessary changes to our environment to stabilize it," Kara counters. "We made many hard choices, we lost many native species and Argo City is practically shrouded in a bubble for protection now that most of Krypton is a desert wasteland. Kandor and Argo City are all that remains," she explains.

"Have you been to Mars lately?" Hank snaps.

"Yes, I have. It is devastating to see what was once a thriving planet is now all but uninhabitable," she remarks.

Hank is taken aback by the woman before him. This is not what he expected, but perhaps he should have, given that Alex Danvers doesn't trust people easily and it would seem that she trusts this Kryptonian completely.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hank," Alex rushes to the door as soon as it opens. She was stunned when he shut off the coms link.

"Everything is fine Agent Danvers," Hanks says opening the door widely so that Kara can pass through. "We need to discuss some things, then you can get Kara Zor-El a tac suit, so that we she see what she can do," he adds flashing a quick smile. "Wait here Ms Zor-El," he says softly before turning to follow Alex into his office.

A few minutes later, Alex appears and smiles brightly at Kara. We're all set," she says and nods towards the hallway for Kara to follow.

"I knew that you would win him over," Alex adds softly as they make their way down the hall. "What happened in there?" She asks pausing to look at Kara more closely.

Kara pauses, not sure that Alex knows that she's working for a martian. "He's a good man, you were right about him," Kara replies. 

A few minutes later they turn down yet another hallway, and Alex calls out to another agent, "Hey Vasquez, do you have an extra tac suit we can borrow?"

"Yeah, why?" She asks skeptically looking at the woman standing beside Alex.

"Uh, this is a friend of mine from another agency," Alex explains. "She's on loan to us to help with the aliens, Hank wants to spar with her," she adds.

"Another agency? Let me guess, it's a modeling agency?" Vasquez quips sarcastically.

"Kara, Kara Zor-El," Kara says extending her hand and introducing herself to the other woman. Slightly offended by her joke, Kara firmly grasps the agent's hand.

"Vasquez, Susannah Vasquez," the agent says taking the offered hand and almost falling to her knees when the blonde grips it.

Shaking her hand, Vasquez follows them into the locker room.

"Which agency are you from exactly?" She asks as she pulls the spare suit out of her locker and hands it over to the blonde.

"Uh, she's from a Canadian agency like ours," Alex stammers. "And they train differently than we do, she's here to learn Krav Maga and learn how to fight and contain the aliens."

"Uh huh," Vasquez says not quite believing the other agent.

"She's a really quick learner, so I was hoping that we could give her a crash course," Alex suggests.

"Danvers, you really think that she can learn Krav Maga before she heads into the sparring room with Henshaw?" Vasquez asks incredulously.

"Once she learns the basics, she'll figure the rest out on her own fighting Henshaw," Alex explains.

Vasquez isn't sure of that, but then she turns around and Kara is already zipping up the tac suit and her other clothes are folded neatly on the bench. "How did you do that?" She asks.

"It's a gift," Kara jokes, making Alex laugh out loud at the familiar joke they used in high school.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Now this room is secure, it's just you and me in here, Kara Zor-El. Don't hold back, just show me what you've got," Hank explains.

Kara nods and begins to move around the circle, remembering the tips that Vasquez shared with her. Henshaw follows her with his eyes, barely adjusting his position, until she passes behind him. Then suddenly he zips around her, but she jumps up and hovers above him. He reaches up and grabs her leg and snatches her out of the air. She comes back to the ground hard, but practically bounces up and throws her first punch, landing a solid hit to his chest which throws him against the wall. He lets his momentum carry him into the wall, but then uses it to launch over her head and land behind her. Kara turns quickly and as he rushes towards her, she moves to her left and avoids him. They keep going at it for almost two hours, when Hank finally gets the best of her.

"You're a quick study, I'll give you that," he admits slightly impressed by her ability to learn his moves and then use them against him.

"And I've only been on Earth for 24 hours, imagine how much stronger I'll be after longer exposure to the yellow sun," Kara points out excitedly.

"Wait, your powers increase with exposure to this sun?" Hank questions, he doesn't recall Alex mentioning that in her dissertation.

"Yes, in a week, I'll be twice as strong as I am now," she replies.

"Well, if that's true then we have a week to train you before you'll be ready to assist us in the field," Hank remarks going over to the door and entering the code to open it.

"How did she do?" Alex asks curiously as they enter the office area.

"She did fine. Vasquez take her to the mess hall and get her something to eat. Agent Danvers, come with me. We need to discuss this unusual situation," Hank says, his tone the usual mix of annoyance tinged with amusement.

Alex enters his office hesitantly, not sure if she should sit down or stand. Hank comes around the desk and leans against it. "So you invited an alien to come help us without talking to me first," he remarks.

"Not exactly, I didn't know that she was coming," Alex explains. "But she did well, right? I mean, when she was here before, she accidently stopped a mugging. She's a natural sir," Alex adds.

"From what I saw today, she is definitely an asset that we need in the field as soon as possible. And she seems willing to do the work, now where is she going to stay?" He asks.

"Uh, yeah, she can stay with me. I can clear out my spare room for her. Thanks, Hank. This means so much, she really wants to help sir, that's why she's here," Alex replies.

"Now, it's going to take a bit of paperwork and I might have to call in a few favors to get her registered properly, so tell me why she's really here," Hank remarks leaning back on his desk and staring intently at Alex.

Alex looks busted. "Okay, so there was this situation there that wasn't good..." Alex remarks before outlining the situation with CATCO that Kara told her about.

"And you don't think that she was behind the hacking, Agent Danvers?" Hank asks.

"No, not at all. Besides Kara is positive that she received the same leaked documents from the hacker that CATCO received and turned over to us, Alex replies.

"You mean the same documents which provided us the details about all of the occupants aboard the prison ship?" He inquires.

"Yes, I thought that we could show her the documents and have her translate them for us," Alex suggests.

"Hmm, but you said that she destroyed her copies," Hank points out.

"Yes, but she would still be able to translate them for us and confirm that they are from the Judicial Council," Alex counters.

"She's going to need to make a statement about that situation, but if she'll help us with that investigation and the escapees, I'm sure that I can get her clearance through," Hank replies confidently.


	6. Chapter 6

"How about fatigue?" The doctor asks.

"Fatigue is part of life," Cat snaps at the physician, clearly irritated. "Is this really necessary doctor? We have come in for weekly check ups now for two months, twice as long as we were in space," she adds.

"You may have only been in space for a few weeks Ms Grant, but the effects on your body last considerably longer," she explains as she concludes the examination."And now that your blood gasses are returning to normal, any residual fatigue from the trip should be leaving your system," the doctor points out.

"Wonderful, so what I'm feeling now is my normal fatigue," Cat replies sarcastically.

"You should see your regular doctor about that. I'm sure that they could prescribe something to improve the quality of your sleep," she begins, but Cat interrupts her.

"Yes, I am aware that a regular sleep routine will reduce the fatigue. But I run a multinational intergalactic media company, 'regular' and 'routine' don't exist in my world. Do you know how many time zones there are out there?" Cat asks dramatically.

The doctor shakes her head and smiles at the woman. Silently thankful that she did not go into private practice and instead stayed in the research part of medicine. She doesn't have many human patients, although now that space travel is open to just about anyone with means, that apparently is going to change.

"Are you planning to release all of my people today?" Cat asks impatiently.

"My team is reviewing all of the tests now," the doctor replies non-committally before leaving the room. "Wait here, Ms Grant," she adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Please tell me that the blood work for the CATCO people is back and they can be released," Eliza says entering the lab and sitting down on a stool beside her assistant.

"Yes, it's fine," Jason, her assistant says disappointedly, turning the monitor to her so that she can review them.

Taking a few minutes to review the results and confirm his assessment, she stands up. "Cheer up Jason, maybe the next space tourists will bring back some alien infection," Eliza quips before leaving the lab.

"We can only hope," Jason replies handing her the patient files for her signature.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You are all released," Eliza says entering the exam room. "I'll just need your signature here," she adds handing over the folder Cat before she can reply.

Cat glances at it, then sighs and scrawls her signature across the line. Then she quickly pulls out her phone and taps on it twice, before puts it up to her ear. "We're done here, bring the car around. I need to be back in National City in an hour," she barks before brushing past the doctor and moving to the next exam room.

James looks up when the door opens and is surprised to see Cat instead of the doctor.

"We're released. The car's out front. Chop, chop," she barks before walking off.

James shakes his head chuckling softly to himself as he grabs his jacket before heading to the next exam room to get Winn.

"It's just such a relief," Winn says dramatically after James tells him that they can go.

"Winn, we were never exposed to anything. If we were, then we would have spent the last few weeks in quarantine, instead of just being subjected to weekly exams," James points out.

"Oh, right," Winn replies. "So why were they monitoring us?" He asks.

"I'm not sure, but I plan to find out," James says as they walk down the hall to leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I want those medical records destroyed," Cat says firmly into the phone. "Make. It. Happen."

"Cat," Lucy begins when she realizes that the call has been disconnected. Crap, how the hell is she supposed to get the government to destroy medical records which are part of a study to ensure the safety of space travel. Reaching for her phone she calls the only person that she can think of to help her, her sister Lois.

"You expect me to convince Cat Grant that her medical records are safe with the government?" Lois asks laughing so loudly that Lucy has to pull the phone away from her ear.

"You know how this works, she agreed to all this as part of her intergalactic passport, there's nothing that I can do," Lucy complains.

"Did you point that out to her before she applied for the passport?" Lois asks.

"No, she applied for it before it was even possible to go. I wasn't her council then," Lucy admits.

"Then tell her that. Oh and can you record that, because I want to see her face when you tell her," Lois jokes.

"Thanks, you are no help as usual," Lucy replies.

"Look, I've known her a long time. She issues ultimatums like that when she's worried about something. Find out what it is and then you can figure out what to do about it," Lois points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey did you see that another UFO was spotted the other night?" Winn asks excited passing James his tablet to show him the footage.

"Looks like a meteor," James says pushing the tablet back. "And you've actually been to space Winn, why are you still curious about UFO's?" He asks.

"Meteors don't leave strange markings in the desert?" Winn counters, clicking on another link and holding it up for James to see. "And now that I've been to space, I know that UFOs are real," he adds.

"Oh for god's sake," Cat snaps looking up from her own laptop in the back of the limo. "That's not a...wait, is that a Kryptonian symbol?" She blurts out, turning the table back for James to look at.

"It certainly looks like one," James adds studying it again. "Uh, hey Winn, do you still have the Kryptonian translator on your phone?"

"No, it was terrible and people made fun of me when I used it," he admits reluctantly.

"One of you, find out what that symbol means," Cat demands, then turning to James, she adds, "I want you to get a team together and fly out there to investigate that. If another prison ship has crash landed in the desert, we need to get exclusive photos."

James nods and reaches for his phone to start assembling a team for the assignment. Even though he's a CEO now, he still loves an excuse to get back into the field and he doesn't mind this assignment at all.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Hey, can we go get burgers?" Kara asks as soon as they get back to the city from the DEO.

"You just ate in the mess with Vasquez?" Alex teases.

"Alex, please you know how hungry space travel makes you," Kara reminds her.

"Fine, but we're going to park the car and walk there, there's never any parking on the street this late," Alex replies.

A few minutes later they are walking down the street when Kara hears a woman scream.

"Kara what is it?" Alex asks knowing that Kara's super hearing has already kicked in.

"It's not far, I'm going to help," Kara says taking off.

"Crap," Alex blurts out and runs after her, barely able to keep sight of Kara in the sky.

A few minutes later, Alex hears Kara's voice and she runs up the alley to find Kara standing over a badly injured woman.

"You'll be okay. Help is coming," Kara says reassuringly.

Alex approaches out of breath and on the phone with 911, Kara looks back at her and then quickly takes off to catch the mugger.

Alex administers first aid until the EMTs get there. Then as she is giving a statement to the police, Kara returns with the guy and shoves him to the police.

The police look at her and Alex shakes her head. "Uh, this is my friend, I told you that she ran after him."

"S-she flew from the sky and tackled me," the man says.

"Sure she did," the cop replies laughing.

"Ma'am it's not a good idea to chase these guys down. You put yourself in danger," the other cop remarks.

"I can take care of myself," Kara answers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Finally free from giving their statements to the police, Alex and Kara get take out and return back to Alex's apartment. "Kara, you can't just fly around chasing bad guys. Earth has changed since the last time that you were here. Everyone's phones have cameras, I just hope no one got any footage of you," Alex grumbles. "Hank's going to kill me if you turn up on the morning news," she mutters.

"Alex, that woman could have been killed. I saved her," Kara points out.

"Yes, she's really lucky that you heard her and intervened, but it's not safe for you to do that," Alex says trying to figure out how to explain it better.

"I don't understand how it could be dangerous for me, Alex," Kara retorts. "I am invincible here," she reminds her.

"Kara, you don't understand. Aliens have gotten a bad rap since the prison ship crashed here. People are frightened of them and want them banned," Alex explains.

"Then I need to do more good. People need to know that not all aliens are bad," Kara points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I spent an hour listening to my masseuse complain about his Crohn's disease and the juice stand was out of chard for my smoothie, now which one of you is going to give me a reason to go on living?" Cat snaps sarcastically as she paces in front of her staff at the afternoon pitch meeting.

"The National City Men's Choir is performing at the White House this week," Denise from Entertainment pipes up.

"Any chance that they'll sing something new this year?" Cat asks and Denise shakes her head no.

"There's a rumor that an alien saved a woman from a mugger last night," Nick from the News team adds.

"Saved a woman from a mugger?" Cat asks perking up a bit. "Get me footage. Why do they think it was an alien?"

"She flew down from the sky," Nick replies.

"She?" Cat stops pacing and stands in front of him. "Get me everything that you can find on this. If there's an alien out there who's not terrorizing the city, I want to know who it is and I want an exclusive!" Cat barks to everyone in the room.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I've used my Homeland Security credentials to get three videos removed already," Vasquez informs Alex as they wait for Hank to finish talking to Kara. 

"Thank you, it happened so fast. I didn't have time to stop her," Alex replies worriedly looking towards Hank's office. As soon as they arrived this morning Hank took Kara into his office.

"As if you could. So she's not from an agency in Canada?" Vasquez asks softly. Hank didn't explain anything to the agent when he told her to find the videos and have them removed using any means necessary.

"No, she's not. She's from Krypton, the prisoners that we've been rounding up, were all sentenced by her mother. She feels responsible, so she came to help round them up," Alex explains, since Hank has Vasquez working on the videos, it's obvious he's going to bring her in on their plan.

"So she's an actual Kryptonian?" Vasquez asks. "Oh wait, is she the one you did your project on?"

"Yes, she is. She stayed with me here and then I went to Krypton and stayed with her," Alex admits looking over at the computer monitor as Vasquez begins another search.

"Hey, this is interesting. Look at this headline from The Tribune," Vasquez says turning her monitor towards Alex.

"Alien or Angel? Mysterious Woman Swoops In To Save The Day", Alex reads out loud. "Well, at least one news outlet finds it positive."

"The Tribune is published by CATCO," Vasquez points out.

"Of course it is," Alex says throwing up her hands in defeat. "Great, Kara's going to freak out," she mumbles.

"Wait, did Kara interact with CATCO when they were on Krypton?" Vasquez asks, suddenly putting it all together.

Alex doesn't confirm or deny it, she's not sure how much Hank's going to want the other Agent to know.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Can't I just wear normal clothes?" Kara asks looking over to Alex for help.

"No, trust us. A uniform will help people to understand that you're not working alone," Alex repeats the line that Hank has said to her repeatedly.

"Alex, a skirt? Really?" Kara asks frowning.

"The tac suit is too military looking," Alex explains. "Don't worry the tights are an indestructible polymer fabric and the boots are knee high, so you're not that exposed," she adds.

"Would you wear this?" Kara questions turning around in the short skirt.

"If I looked like that in it? Yeah, I'd probably never take it off," Alex quips.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cat, there was nothing out there but that symbol," James explains again.

"That symbol didn't just appear on its own. There has to be something out there," Cat points out.

"I swear all that's out there is sand, lots of sand," James replies pointing at the video footage of the desert.

"I don't know how, but that has to be related to the alien angel that appeared last night," Cat says firmly.

"I'll check with Winn and see if he's identified the symbol yet," James says turning to leave.

"James, the symbol is marking something," Cat replies confidently. "Maybe she's buried her ship out there." 

"Wait, you think that there's a ship buried in all that sand?" James asks incredulously. "The sand wasn't disturbed, Cat. No footprints or other markings," he points out.

"Well I've positioned one of our satellites over that area. If she or anyone returns to get it, we'll see everything," Cat says confidently.


	7. Chapter 7

Kara is exhausted, surprised that she managed to talk Alex and Hank into letting her return to Alex's apartment on her own for some down time. Now laying on her bed in the newly cleared out guest room, she closes her eyes and drifts off. Her sleep is more meditative than restful on this planet. On Krypton, days are much shorter, so the sleep cycle is shorter as well. Compound that with the adjustment of traveling at warp speed for two thousand light years and you get a kind of jet lag that takes a week to shake.

"She's just tired from the trip, Mom," Alex says softly as they enter the apartment.

"I can't believe that you didn't tell me that she was here and I had to see it on the news," Eliza exclaims. When she saw Alex talking to police on the news that morning she suspected that Kara had returned to Earth. "I wish you would have brought her to see me and let me check her out." 

"Mom, Hank insisted that the DEO doctor do the exam," Alex explains again as she sets her things down on a chair by the door. "Wait here, I'll be right back."

Slowly Alex opens the bedroom door, "Kara?" she says softly. "Kara, Mom's here and she wants to see you," Alex adds.

Kara's eyes open and it takes her a minute to remember where she is. "Eliza is here, now?" She asks.

Alex nods and Kara swings around to sit up on the side of the bed. "She saw the news report, so you're going to get an earful of not calling her when you got here," Alex teases.

"Kara?" Eliza says softly pushing the door open. "Oh my gosh, look how pretty you are!" she exclaims entering the room and wrapping her arms around the younger woman, whom she hasn't seen since she was an awkward teen.

"Eliza!" Kara responds, carefully returning the embrace.

"How are you feeling? Alex says they have you training to fight at the DEO," Eliza questions worriedly.

"I'm feel really great, just still adjusting to the longer days," Kara reminds her.

"Right, I've found that Earthlings returning from Krypton have an easier time adjusting to the time change on their return to earth. Our circadian sleep cycles reset when we're exposed to our sun and moon cycles," Eliza replies. "Does it work for you like that when you return to Krypton?" She asks.

"Uh, I think so. I haven't traveled intergalactically since the last time that I was here, so I'm not sure," Kara answers.

"Mom, why don't we go start dinner and let Kara freshen up after her nap," Alex suggests taking Eliza's hand and pulling her up from the bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara just found out that I work for the DEO, so no Mom, I haven't told her yet about your job," Alex hisses as they stand in the kitchen.

"Why is my working for the government researching the effects of space travel on human beings going to be a big deal to Kara?" Eliza asks pulling the casserole dish down from the cupboard.

"Didn't you just treat the people from CATCO?" Alex challenges as she begins pulling the ingredients out of the fridge.

"Yes, they went to Krypton, of course I did. Did Kara meet them? Is that why she's here?" Eliza blurts out.

"I'll let her explain it, but yes, she met them," Alex replies as she begins setting everything on the counter.

Silently, Eliza begins helping her and they fall into their usual banter, disagreeing about whether ricotta cheese or cottage cheese is better.

Kara stops walking and stands in the middle of the living room, pausing just to listen to them bickering back and forth. When she first heard it, she could believe that Alex spoke to her mother this way, but now she understands and loves that they talk to each other this way. It's one of the things that she loves about being here. Krypton is so formal and stilted in comparison.

"Lasagna!" Kara exclaims a minute later as she enters the kitchen smiling brightly. "Alex, you are the best!"

"Sit down, you're not helping cook," Eliza says shooing Kara away and handing her a tall glass of water.

"I do live on my own now and can cook for myself," Kara points out.

"Mala doesn't cook?" Eliza asks concerned, noticing a slight sadness in Kara's eyes.

"No she doesn't cook, she barely eats and, uh, she moved out a few weeks ago," Kara replies before taking a nervous sip of her water. 

"Kara, you can do so much better than that narcissistic..." Alex begins but a look from Eliza shuts her down. "Well, you deserve to be with someone who appreciates you," she says finishing with a sweet smile.

"Alex is right, Kara. You are such a beautiful person inside and out," Eliza says walking over to her and resting an arm around her shoulders.

"The two of you are really good for my ego," Kara jokes. "But then being on Earth being able to fly is pretty awesome too."

"Speaking of that, would you come by my lab and let me check you out?" Eliza asks.

"The DEO has been checking me out daily, Eliza. I don't think there's anything to worry about," Kara answers.

"I know, but I want to update my file on you. You're the only alien that I've known since puberty, I'd just like document your maturation process," she explains reaching an arm out to wrap Kara up in a slight hug.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Uh, no actually I live here in National City now, didn't Alex tell you?" Eliza replies looking over at Alex confused.

"Mom, we just hadn't got around to that yet. She's only been here a couple of days," Alex exclaims.

"Well, I've taken on a government contract and I'm working at a lab just outside the city," Eliza says looking over at Alex, unsure of how much she should say.

"Mom works with the DEO now, she helps analyze the aliens that we've been capturing," Alex replies.

"How many escapees have the DEO captured Alex?" Kara asks suddenly concerned with where they are holding them.

"Just a handful, we don't have a lot of experience with them and each encounter results in us needing new techniques or equipment to capture and contain. Those Hellgrammites have a hell of a stinger," Alex points out.

"Alexandra, language!" Eliza exclaims teasing her as they all share the laugh. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara what time is it? Why are you up already?" Alex stumbles out to the living room, curious and a little annoyed that Kara is watching tv at 4 am.

"Sorry, did I wake you? Shoot, I should have turned the sound down more," she says looking up from the tv. "I, uh found an old news program."

"You're watching Cat Grant's old talk show? I didn't even know that was still on?" Alex says rubbing the sleep out of her eyes. "And why are you watching this?" She asks.

"I met her. On Krypton, I thought that she was just another tourist," Kara explains. "She sort of befriended me, but not as Cat Grant, she told me her name was Catherine Foster."

"Catherine Foster? Well, that is her real name, I think, but wait...Oh god, she was getting close to you to get the story?" Alex blurts out angrily.

"The Gazette is the only source of news in Argo City, so she was either trying to see what I knew or scoping out the competition," Kara points out.

"Kara, I'm sorry that she did that," Alex says pulling her in for a sisterly hug.

"The thing is, she was so nice," Kara admits.

"I've never heard anyone say that about her," Alex jokes releasing Kara from the hug. "I mean all of the tabloids call her a dragon lady and former employees write tell all books and she sues them."

"Do you think that I could go see her?" Kara asks.

"No, definitely not Kara. She isn't the person that you think she is. Here on earth, she's a ruthless business person and she'll just try to get an exclusive on you. Seeing her is a really bad idea," Alex points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"It's been a week and no one has gotten any closer to finding out who that mystery woman was last week," Cat lectures her staff at the morning editorial meeting. "I realize that being second or even third place is what most of you are used to, but I don't intend to get used to mediocrity. So all of you need to step up your game and get me an exclusive, I don't care if it's with an alien thug. Go. Get. Me. An. Alien!" she roars at them before storming out of the conference room.

"Ms Grant, I'm not sure our liability policy is going to cover the sort of injuries your people could get from tracking down hostile aliens for interviews?" Lucy Lane jokes as she enters the woman's office a short while later.

"No, then negotiate better coverage. I didn't bring the aliens here Lucy, they are here and they are newsworthy," Cat snaps.

"I've reached out to my father to see if he can secure an interview with one of the escapees that they've captured, but no one seems to be able to talk to it," Lucy explains.

"Hmm, that is a problem that I hadn't considered. When I was on Krypton, most of them spoke English," Cat points out.

"Kryptonians have a knack for languages," Lucy replies without thinking.

"Lucy?" Cat drops her pen and takes off her glasses to better apprise her legal counsel. "How do you know so much about Kryptonians?" She asks.

"I, uh, I studied them in college, sort of. I was going to go into intergalactical law, but then my father found out and he's anti-alien, so I switched my focus back to international law," Lucy explains.

"That was almost interesting," Cat replies picking up her pen and returning to the report that she was analyzing.

"Cat, didn't you say that you met a Kryptonian journalist? Maybe you could persuade her to visit and help you with the interviews," Lucy suggests.

"I doubt that she would help us, you're forgetting that everyone on Krypton thinks that we hacked into their government's system and stole documents," Cat reminds her.

"And you don't think that the one media outlet there doesn't know what actually happened?" Lucy challenges.

"Lucy, both of Kara's parents are government officials, even if she knows the truth, I'm sure that she would never print it, which is also why we're not asking her to help," Cat points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara, come on. You make us late every morning," Alex says knocking on the bathroom door.

"Leave without me and I'll fly in this morning," Kara replies hopefully.

Looking at her watch, Alex considers it. If she leaves now, she'll have time to stop for decent coffee. "You promise to fly high so no one sees you?" Alex asks.

"Of course, I'll probably beat you there," Kara jokes through the door.

"Be careful, I'll see you there," Alex says turning to leave.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Flying high over the city and out towards the ocean, Kara relishes the freedom of being in the air on her own without Hank beside her giving her tips on how to go faster, further and stronger. Keeping an eye on the coast line, Kara is about to change direction when she hears a cry for help. Slowing down, she hovers a moment and searches below her. There is a young boy in a small fishing boat crying out for help on a broken radio.

Kara goes down to the boat to check on him, "What happened?" She asks.

"The engine quit and my dad's gonna kill me," the boy exclaims in awe of the woman floating in the air.

Kara lands on the boat softly, then goes over to the engine compartment and tinkers with it a moment, "You're out of fuel," she points out.

"No, the gauge says half full," the boy argues.

Kara looks at the gauge, then looks through the boat with her x-ray vision, there's something in the fuel compartment, but it isn't fuel. "Whose boat is this?" She asks the boy.

"Um, I sort of borrowed it so I could go fishing," he admits.

"I think that you've borrowed the wrong boat for fishing," Kara replies hearing another boat approaching.

"There it is," one man yells pointing at the boat.

Kara here's the click of the gun and grabs the boy, wrapping her cape around them as gunfire erupts around them. She launches them up into the air and flies off. In a few minutes they are out of range of the gunfire and Kara begins to wonder what she should do with the boy. Spotting a police car below, she swoops down a few feet away and the car stops immediately.

"Ma'am, let the child go," the first cop says stepping carefully out of the car as his partner does the same. Both draw their weapons.

"Don't shoot. She saved me," the boy calls out putting his arms out to shield her.

"He was stranded on a boat, I was just bringing him to safety," Kara explains. "Perhaps you gentlemen can take it from here?" She asks before bolting up into the sky and disappearing.

"Who was that kid? Did she tell you her name?" The first officer asks.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

_"Another appearance of the Alien Angel, this time she rescued a young man from a boat at sea," the newscaster begins._

"Emily, get everyone in here now!" Cat roars at her assistant as she begins pacing in front of her desk.

A few minutes later Cat is still pacing in front of her desk, but now the room is full.

"Okay, so perhaps I wasn't clear before. I realize that KTBS got the jump on us this time, this story all but landed in their newsroom, but they're still not getting much of a story. She is our ticket out of mediocrity. That girl is a hero, our hero. She is SuperGirl!" Cat says enthusiastically and proud that she's named the hero.

"No more referencing her as the Alien Angel. Now that I've branded her as SuperGirl, the hero of National City. Now who is going to get me a clear photo of SuperGirl that I can build a story around?" Cat explains, glancing around the group of photographers, then sighing disappointedly at them.

The idea still developing in her mind as she talks, she turns to look at her team of reporters. She spots her best one scribbling furiously on a pad of paper, encouraged Cat walks up to stand in front of him.

"Nick Farrow, drop what you're working on now. Find out who this SuperGirl is and what planet she is from," Cat barks to him.

"I'm in the middle of that piece on Luthor Corps latest corruption case," Nick replies flustered, knowing that he can't really say no to Ms Grant.

"Drop it, we both know that Lex Luthor will corrupt another government official soon, but who knows when we'll get another do-gooder alien," Cat points out.

"How do you know that she's an alien and just because she rescued a couple of people, that doesn't mean she is a super hero?" Farrow asks.

"She can fly and according to that child, she is bulletproof," Cat replies glaring around the room daring anyone else to challenge her. "And she's put herself in danger twice that we know of, so I'd say that makes her a superhero," she adds sharply.

"Why don't I take a few trips with the traffic team and see if we get lucky, I am the best photographer here," James reminds her.

"I'm not opposed to you out in the field with a camera," she remarks as Winn enters her office with a laptop.

"Ms Grant, uh, I think that you're going to want to see this," he says nervously.

"You found footage of the alien? Of SuperGirl?" Cat asks curiously.

"Yeah, but I think you'll want to look at it first," he says eyeing the reporters in the room.

"Hmm," Cat looks at him carefully, then shoos everyone out of the office.

James follows them and shuts the door before returning to Cat's desk.

"It's her," Winn says cuing up the video and pointing at the screen.

"It's her, who?" James asks as the screen closes in on Kara's face. "Wait, isn't that?"

The media mogul nods staring intently at the screen. "Kara Zor-El, what the hell are you doing here on Earth?" Cat asks the image out loud.


	8. Chapter 8

"I want this photo captured, it's not very good, but clearly it is her," Cat says trying to think clearly.

"Uh, Ms Grant, this is the dashcam footage from the police cruiser," Winn explains, "It hasn't been released yet, so we can't use it."

"Winn! You hacked into the Ventura Police Department for dashcam footage?" James blurts out.

"Well, yeah but only so I could get a clear shot of her to use for this," Winn says clicking to open another folder on his laptop. "I wrote an algorithm to use with the latest facial recognition software and then I ran it cross referencing videos loaded to various social media sites and now we have about 62 videos of SuperGirl in action," he says pointing up at the TV above them as a stream of videos begins to play.

"Can you find out who the woman in this photo is?" Cat asks pointing at Alex Danvers.

"Uh, yeah sure," Winn replies moving over to the couch with his computer and typing quickly, "I just need to capture her photo and upload it into the program," he mumbles to himself.

"James, tell Nick that he can go back to covering Lex Luthor, I'm going to handle SuperGirl myself," Cat says sitting down at her desk and pulling out pen and paper to begin making notes.

"I think that I've got it," Winn announces. "Her name is Alexandra Danvers, she's from Midvale," he adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cat this isn't a good idea, she knows you as Catherine Foster, you should assign this to someone else," James points out.

"She's here James, why would she come here to National City if she didn't want us to contact her?" Cat asks.

"Maybe because this is where she knows people. She knows people in Midvale, it's not that far from here. It could just be a coincidence," James counters.

"Alexandra Danvers has to be the connection here for Kara Zor-El," Cat says barely listening to him. "Danvers graduated from Stanford with a PHd in bioengineering, a masters in genetics and she was pre-med as an undergrad," she mumbles to herself. "Although, she is not registered with any of the usual professional organizations. She doesn't even have a gym membership."

"I think I can help you with that one," Lucy says entering Cat's office. "She's military."

"How do you know that? We searched the military database and it came back empty," Cat points out.

"If she's special ops, then she won't be in any database that we can search. Look, I've been reviewing the news footage, this vehicle has military registration," Lucy counters pulling up footage from outside the Ventura Police Department and pointing out the vehicle. Hoping that Cat doesn't get angry that she's inserting herself into the news story again.

"CNN News footage, of course, they broadcast everything," Cat quips, then it dawns on her. "If the government is there to clean this up, then it means that they don't want anyone to know about her?"

"Look, there's Danvers getting out of the car. And she bares a strong resemblance to the unidentified woman from the first mugging story," Lucy explains as she lays her tablet down so the two photos are side by side.

"Okay, so how do we get a hold of her? I haven't been able to locate an address or phone number for her," Cat asks.

"The easiest way to hide in plain sight is to create a second identity using your mother's maiden name," Lucy retorts. "Not that I've ever done that," she adds smiling mischievously.

"Hmm, if you're right then..." Cat stops talking and begins typing in another search based on the research she did on Alex Danvers earlier. Smiling brightly, she sits back proudly as the search returns an address, "If I'm not mistaken, this address isn't far from the mugging," she adds as she quickly writes the address down.

"Cat, what are you doing?" Lucy asks watching Cat tear off the paper, and then open her desk drawer to grab her purse.

"I'm going to get the story," Cat replies taking off her readers and digging her sunglasses out of her bag.

"No, Cat. You can't just go camp on their doorstep and wait for them to come home," James says holding his hands out in front of him.

Cat glares at him but before she can begin to respond, Lucy interrupts.

"Uh, look. There's a coffee shop near the apartment, I'll bet they go there every morning. I'll go early tomorrow and scope it out for you, just to confirm that we're on the right track," Lucy suggests.

"I'm going with you," Cat replies. "I want to see her for myself," she adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat paces around her penthouse, she's still getting used to the new space. Robert wanted the house in the divorce, which was fine because the last thing Cat wanted was to live up the canyon alone. She bought an oceanside penthouse not far from CATCO with top of the line security and a helipad on the roof. Since Carter decided to finish out the school year and stay at the house, Cat can take her time decorating the new place. But right now she needs to relax and think, so she sets the sound system to her favorite jazz selection, before pouring herself a drink and heading out to the balcony to watch the sunset.

Standing at the railing and looking out across the city, she wonders what Kara's doing right now. Why is she in National City? Is there any chance that she'll agree to see me?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Switch!" Alex yells when she realizes that Kara's going to eat the whole pint before she even gets to try the new flavor.

"Next time we're buying more of that one," Kara replies as she reluctantly passes the container to Alex.

"Honestly Kara, the lack of ice cream on Krypton is what keeps me from returning," Alex jokes.

"This salted caramel is fantastic," Kara exclaims taking a big spoonful.

"Yes but this Mocha Chocha Latte is amazing," Alex sighs into another bite.

Distracted by the ice cream, it takes Alex a moment to realize that Kara is zoned out again.

"Hey, what is it?" Alex asks touching her shoulder.

"Kal-El," Kara replies quickly, returning to focus on her cousin's words as she leans forward to set the ice cream down.

"Hu-Wu was the hacker afterall," Kara repeats. "Oh Kal-El that's such a relief. So I'm cleared of everything?" She asks.

"For the most part, although you still didn't report the stolen files," he reminds her.

"What about Mala? Do they know that she was involved?" Kara asks.

"Yes, she's in custody and being charged along with Hu-Wu," Kal-El informs her. "Kara you can come home now," he points out.

Kara looks over at Alex and freezes a moment before replying, "No Kal-El. Uh, I'm not done here. I've been training to fight and we're just about to start rounding up escapees," Kara explains.

"Your parents are upset and really want to talk with you Kara, you should return soon," Kal-El replies firmly.

"Thank you for everything that you've done Kal-El, but I'm staying here on Earth a bit longer," Kara repeats.

Alex sits stunned on the couch, she's been so caught up in Kara being here, that she hadn't thought about her going back to Krypton soon.

"That was Kal-El?" Alex asks.

"Yes, I'm no longer being suspected of espionage or collusion, although I still face charges of receiving stolen documents," Kara explains.

Alex nods her understanding, but she is still stunned at the thought of Kara leaving. 

"You know it's been so great to have you here, that I guess I hadn't let myself think about you leaving, but you will go back to Krypton," she states, trying to hold her emotions in.

Kara turns to Alex, "Alex, I love it here. And. I love you and Eliza. But Krypton is my home, I will need to return there to my real life," she admits.

"This could be your real life Kara, you could stay here and work at the DEO. You could have a life here on Earth," Alex points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"There. They. Are." Lucy says as she slowly gazes across the room.

Cat remains facing the wall, willing herself not to turn around, although she's wearing her usual disguise, a Hermes scarf wrapped around her hair with oversized sunglasses, she has to admit that she still isn't ready to confront Kara.

"Alex Danvers is definitely an operative. She is carrying at least one weapon and she's got a comslink in her left ear," Lucy remarks, holding her coffee in front of her as she watches the two women order at the counter.

"FBI? Homeland Security? What agency would house a Kryptonian openly like this?" Cat whispers.

"There's only one agency that I know of and it's classified," Lucy murmurs.

"Oh please, you expect me to believe that there is a secret government agency that no one's heard of?" Cat quips.

"There are more than you would like to know," Lucy replies, "I'm going to get a refill and see if I can get her to talk to me." The brunette says moving swiftly to join them at the counter as they wait for their drinks.

"Hey, could I get just one more refill?" She asks the barista sweetly, flirting with her eyes.

Alex smirks and looks away. "Typical", she scoffs under her breath.

"Excuse me?" Lucy says looking offended.

"Nothing ma'am," Alex says glancing over at Kara for help. "I was just commenting to my sister."

Kara laughs, she's not helping Alex this time. "I don't remember what we were talking about, remind me?" Kara asks.

Alex covers her mouth with her hand and whispers softly, "Help me and I'll get you another sticky bun."

Kara smiles brightly, "My sister was saying that it's typical that a beautiful woman, like you, would not be single," she gestures behind them to the woman watching their exchange.

Alex almost spits out her coffee. She's going to kill Kara.

"Oh really?" Lucy says turning back to face Alex. "Lucy," she says holding out her hand.

"Alex," Alex says reluctantly, recovering quickly from Kara throwing her under the bus.

"Uh, do you come here for coffee often? We haven't seen you here before," Kara says watching them curiously, trying to decide if Alex will talk to the woman if she leaves or if she'll just use Kara's leaving as an excuse to follow.

"No, I live across town. My colleague and I have a meeting nearby," Lucy says glancing over to where Cat is sitting. "In fact, I should get back there," she adds taking her refill and walking away.

Kara moves over close to Alex and grabs another sticky bun, "Go get her number, she's cute and smells wonderful," she adds between bites.

"Not going to happen," Alex says grabbing her coffee. "Let's get going or we'll be late...again."

"Was that her?" Lucy asks Cat when she returns to the table.

"Yes," Cat says thoughtfully.

"They seemed quite comfortable around each other, not like an agent and handler," Lucy points out. "Even introduced themselves to me as sisters," she adds.

"Well, they have known each other a long time, Kara stayed with the Danvers family when she first came to earth," Cat explains. "And Alex stayed on Krypton with Kara's family."

"Wait, it hasn't been that long that Krypton is stable enough for us to survive there," Lucy says considering this information. "Ten years ago, would have put Danvers there during the stabilization period," she adds.

"I hadn't really thought about that aspect of it," Cat remarks considering it a moment. "Kara did mention that Alex had difficulty adjusting to the gravitational pull, I assumed it was because she was young."

"Okay enough of this. Cat what's your plan now to get your girl?" Lucy asks.

Cat almost chokes on her coffee.

Lucy smirks happily, she saw the way Cat looked when she was talking about the alien, there is definitely something going on there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara and Hank are about to begin yet another training exercise outside in the desert when his eyes flash red, then she hears it too and drops to her knees.

"Hank?" She gasps. "Do you hear that?" Kara asks putting her hands up to her head in pain.

The martian glances around, he did hear it, but he can't admit it. "Kara, what is it?" He asks disguising his own discomfort from the transmission.

"He says that he's going to hurt everyone in National City, if I don't meet with him," she explains as she stands up slowly, glancing around worriedly. "I've got this," she says before taking off.

"Hank! Hank, what the hell is going on?" Alex asks from the observation deck inside the command center. "I just saw Kara take off..."

"Just get a team together, we need to get in the air, now!" He barks rushing over to the command vehicle as Vasquez jumps into the passenger seat.

A few minutes later, Hank and Vasquez pull up to the helipad and rush onto the helicopter where Alex is waiting for them. The three of them climb in and the copter takes off with Hank providing instructions. Neither Alex nor Vasquez question him on how he knows where Kara went.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Vartox, I know who you are and I'm here to stop you," Kara says boldly as she stalks through the abandoned power plant looking for him.

"You and what army?" He snaps from behind her and strikes her quickly.

Kara dodges the strike and whirls around. "I am the army," she says confidently.

"On my planet women bow before men," he sneers.

"We're not on your planet," Kara reminds him, watching him closely for the first sign of his attack.

Vartox sizes her up a moment, he knows that they both have powers here on Earth, but he also knows that his ax gives him an edge. He vaults over her and she follows him, he turns quickly and lands a solid punch that sends her flying into a stack of pipes.

Kara groans, she hasn't been hit that hard before. She rolls off the pipes and onto her knees before rising to her feet again.

"You look like Alura. I told the others that you were her daughter. They will all come for you now," he spits out at her.

"How do you know my mother?" Kara asks.

"She sentenced me to Fort Rozz. She was our judge, jury and jailer. She sentenced all of us to Fort Rozz. And since we can't get to her, we'll have to settle for killing you," He quips.

"You can't be from Fort Rozz. Fort Rozz is on Krypton, just outside of Argo City," Kara protests. "My Aunt Astra is sentenced there," she adds. Rushing at him swiftly and landing a punch that sends him reeling through a concrete wall.

"General Astra is here on earth, she sent me to kill you," Vartox says advancing on her again and landing another solid blow sending her flying through the wall of the building.

Kara picks herself up again. Her mind trying to comprehend that Astra is here on Earth and wants to kill her.

"I don't believe you. My mother would never banish her only sister from Krypton," Kara counters. Taking flight, she manages to get the jump on Vartox and she lands a solid punch, but this time he stands his ground and punches her back. Gasping for air, she breaks his grip on her throat and wrenches away from him.

"You have no idea what your mother is capable of," Vartox replies. "She sentenced all of us to Fort Rozz and then released us into the phantom zone," he adds.

Vartox smiles and pulls out the ax from over his shoulder. She backs up as he swings it at her and misses.

"She wouldn't do that," Kara argues, not taking her eyes off the ax. "She wouldn't banish her own blood to the Phantom Zone."

"Yet here we are," he says smiling oddly. "You can join us or die," he adds tauntingly, advancing slowly until she stumbles and falls to the ground. Then he rushes over and strikes at her burying the ax into the asphalt.

Kara rolls away from it and jumps back to her feet. Landing a hard blow to his back as he tries to wrench the ax from the ground. It suddenly is free and Vartox swings around and throws it at her.

Kara spins away to avoid it and it clatters to the ground.

Vartox advances on her again just as she realizes that the ax sliced her arm open. Stunned by the pain, Kara freezes in place and the alien wraps his hands around her throat, his face inches from hers as he begins to squeeze. Struggling to breathe, Kara glances over to where the ax lies just out of her reach.

Vartox follows her gaze and laughs in her face. "Kara Zor-El, this is your last breath," he taunts.

The sound of a helicopter approaching, makes him glance up and Kara takes advantage of his distraction to shove him away and reach over for the ax. He pulls her back before she can grab it. But just then the helicopter fires a shot that just misses them. Vartox gets to the ax first and spins around to look at Kara, but another shot is fired from the helicopter so he runs off. The chopper hovers over Kara just long enough to lower Alex down to the ground.

"Hey, are you okay?" She asks looking at the torn suit and blood on Kara's hand.

Kara nods slowly still stunned by the fight and everything that she just learned about her Mother.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that it's taking so long between chapters, but thanks for staying with the story, I hope to post Ch 10 on Thursday.
> 
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Wait, are you saying that your Aunt Astra, whom I met on Krypton, sent Vartox to kill you?" Alex repeats what Kara's told her because it makes no sense. The Astra that she met on Krypton was protective of Kara and took forever to warm up to Alex.

"Vartox says that Fort Rozz landed here on earth, which makes no sense. Fort Rozz is on Krypton and my mother wouldn't have sent it to the phantom zone. I have to talk to Kal-El," Kara says pushing up to get off the exam table.

"Kara, hold on. How do you know he's telling the truth? And we need to clean your wound and figure out what kind of material that ax is made of since it was able to pierce your skin," Alex says grabbing her to keep her in place.

Kara sighs, then sits back down, so that Alex can look at the wound more clearly.

A commotion in the hallway causes them both to look up as Eliza enters the room frowning. "Kara! How did this happen?" She asks practically pushing the other technician aside and stepping in beside Alex.

"I was fighting and the guy threw an ax at me," Kara begins to explain.

"We have yet to find a metal that can pierce your skin," Eliza replies as she pushes and prods at the cut a moment, before picking up the forceps and pulling out a sliver of metal and hands it to Alex. "This should help you identify the compound," she snaps.

Kara looks at Eliza gratefully as they both watch the wound heal before their eyes.

"Now, who the hell were you fighting and why did he have an ax that could hurt you?" Eliza asks crossing her arms and staring both women down.

"Dr Danvers, you're not cleared for this," Hank says from across the room.

"Then I suggest you clear me for it," she protests. "I am the most knowledgeable person in this room when it comes to Kara's biology." Eliza adds challenging Alex to dispute it.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"This is all of the footage?" Cat asks disappointedly.

"Yes," James answers. "Cat this wasn't training, they were using live rounds. We couldn't get close enough to see what was going on," he explains.

"But this, this barely looks human," she says pointing at the shape of what they think is the fleeing alien.

"The helicopter followed him shooting, but he got away," James points out.

"Well there's only one person capable of fighting something like that," Cat gestures to the fleeing image that appears to be bounding 20 feet in the air as he dodges the rounds from the helicopter.

"But then the chopper returned to the power plant and landed, so obviously someone was still there," he points out. "But like I said, we couldn't get that close and the buildings blocked our view. Except I did get shots of this," he says scrolling quickly through the file and stopping to show her the damaged wall.

"Well, that is impressive," Cat remarks awestruck at the sight of a person size hole in the concrete wall. "These aliens are like gods on earth, this looks like a scene from the action movies that my sons watch," she exclaims.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Let's go again," Kara says jumping back up to her feet. Throwing herself into training seemed like the best way to distract herself from thinking about her mother's actions when she couldn't reach Kal-El.

"No, you've had enough," Alex says intervening. "Kara, it was your first real fight. You'll do better next time," she adds.

"Kara, it's partly my fault. I've held back in our fight sessions," Hank admits.

"You can't do that Hank. I have to be ready for this," Kara points out.

"You are ready Kara, just remember that when you're fighting an opponent of equal or greater skill, you can use their power against them," Alex says decisively, moving into the ring with her.

"Alex, I'm not going to..." Kara begins to say, but stops talking to defend herself from Alex's punches.

"Come on Kara, come at me," Alex says confidently. "What? Are you afraid of a little human?" She taunts, faking a punch and sweeping her leg to knock the alien on her back.

Annoyed, Kara pops back up and rushes at her, but Alex easily uses Kara's power to flip her over and into the wall.

"How did you do that?" Kara stammers surprised by the maneuver. "Again," she demands scrambling to her feet to rush at the brunette again.

After the third time, Kara manages to avoid the flip and instead takes Alex down to the mat practically crushing her.

"Kara!" Alex gasps banging her hands on her shoulders.

"Oh Rao, I'm so sorry Alex," Kara says rolling off of her.

"Good job," Alex mutters as she sits up to catch her breath. "You are a really quick learner," she adds glancing over at Hank.

"Both of you should get out of here and rest up. We're going to train harder tomorrow," Hank says smiling slightly at the two of them and shaking his head. Only Alex would go up against an alien a hundred times stronger than she is and manage to get in a few good shots.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex is just staring at the message on her phone. She isn't really surprised, but she didn't expect it to happen so quickly.

"Alex, what is it?" Kara asks noting the distracted look on the brunette's face.

"Uh, well couple of things. Apparently Cat Grant has named you SuperGirl and she has decided to do a feature on you," Alex says picking up the tv remote and switching the channel to the story of the day. "She's put out an open invitation for you to meet with her on the front page of The Tribune," she adds.

"Wh-How did they get that footage?" Kara blurts out as she watches Vartox bounding away dodging the shots from the helicopter pursuing him.

"There was a news copter in the area, Vasquez sent out the warning telling them to stay clear, but obviously they had a long lens," Alex explains. "At least there's no shot of you," she adds.

"Me getting my ass kicked, you mean," Kara snaps.

"You'll do better next time," Alex reminds her. "Now you know what you're up against."

"I should go talk to her before someone gets hurt," Kara points out, frowning and concerned.

"No, we'll take care of it, Kara. We'll use our Homeland Security leverage to shut down the coverage before they make things worse," Alex explains.

"I should go talk to Cat, off the record. And relax, I won't tell her anything important, but I will ask her to back off and she'll be more likely to do it if I ask her to," Kara says spinning around into her supersuit.

"I hope that you're right, Kara. Because Hank is not going to like this, especially if it doesn't work," Alex warns as the hero opens the balcony door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat is still at the office, she's not really working so much as she's trying to figure out who it is and what planet it's from by surfing the intergalactic net. She's found the Kryptowatch story from The Argo City Gazette and she's reading it when she sees something fluttering out her window. Removing her reading glasses, she goes to the patio door to see what it is and a small gasp escapes her mouth.

"Kara Zor-El," she marvels almost under her breath as she pushes the door open to greet her.

"Hi, Catherine. Or do you prefer to be called Cat?" Kara asks pointedly, hovering just off the balcony.

"Let me explain," Cat says gesturing to her office. "Come inside?"

"No, I'm fine out here," Kara says landing lightly on the balcony and crossing her arms.

Cat fidgets nervously, she's written a hundred emails to Kara trying to explain everything and now that the woman is right here in front of her, her mind is completely blank.

"So Cat Grant is your real name," Kara prompts.

"Catherine Foster is also my real name, or was," Cat admits frowning slightly. "Robert and I are getting a divorce," she adds. "Everything that I told you was true, Kara. I didn't lie to you, I just wasn't completely honest."

Kara nods considering it. She uncrosses her arms and sits down on the arm of a chair.

Encouraged Cat continues. "I hope that you know that CATCO wasn't behind the hack and we didn't steal those documents," Cat adds defensively, "But we were advised to leave before charges were brought."

"You were right to leave. And the hacker is in custody and you've all been cleared, I thought that you'd want to know," Kara replies.

"Thank you. So why are you here? In National City?" Cat questions.

"Uh, well I was accused of helping you and I fled before they could charge me with collusion and espionage," Kara snaps angrily. 

Cat flinches, she isn't sure if Kara's anger is at her or the situation.

"Oh no, Kara. I had no idea," Cat exclaims shocked. "They detained you?" She asks.

"They questioned me, but couldn't hold me with the evidence that they had. When they released me I took my grandfather's pod and came to Earth," Kara explains. "But since, I came here without proper clearance, I had to meet with Homeland Security and they detained me briefly until Alex pointed out that I could help capture the rogue aliens."

"Kara, I am sorry. We had no idea. I had no idea, I never would have left if I had known my actions would jeopardise your standing on Krypton," Cat says apologizing profusely. "Is there anything that I can do to help you now?"

"Catherine..." Kara sighs. "You were right to leave when you did. The hacker framed CATCO, if he hadn't of tried to use me to leak the documents to the public, he might have gotten away with it," she remarks instead.

"So you knew him?" Cat questions.

"He is Mala's cousin, they, uh, they were in on it together," she adds sadly. "She tried to get me to publish the documents, but I wouldn't even look at them, once I realized what they were," Kara explains. "It wasn't until later that I was told about CATCO's connection to the documents."

Cat stares at her a moment, completely perplexed on how to respond. Kara looks angry and lost. Cat's instinct is to comfort her, but she isn't sure how Kara would respond.

"Why were you on Krypton?" Kara blurts out.

The petite woman sighs softly, before sitting down on the edge of a chair. "James was there to make an offer on The Gazette, he is building an intergalactic division of CATCO. I went because CATCO is my company and it gave me an opportunity to investigate the prison ship story. I promised James that I wouldn't interfere with his acquisition, but I did insist on seeing The Gazette for myself. I thought that I could just play the part of tourist and talk to some of your staff at the coffee shop across the street, but then I met you and ..." Cat's voice trails off, she's not sure exactly how to explain the rest of her actions.

Kara smiles slightly relieved that the whole thing wasn't part of an elaborate corporate takeover plan. She is about to respond when her phone buzzes in her boot. Putting up a finger as a signal for Cat to wait a moment, Kara taps the earpiece.

"Alex, I'm fine. I'll be back soon," Kara says immediately. "I know," she replies. Then more strongly she adds, "Alex. I know!"

Grimacing, Kara reaches back up and taps the earpiece to end the call.

"Sorry, I need to get back," she says standing up slowly.

"You have a phone, may I have the number?" Cat asks softly.

Ignoring her request, Kara instead replies, "Alex just reminded me that I was supposed to tell you that this whole conversation is off the record."

Annoyed, even though she had assumed that it was. Cat still attempts to negotiate, "Fine, but there has to be something you can give me on the record, in exchange" she replies. "I was just reading your expose`on KryptoWatch, does that have anything to do with the group of aliens that you're helping capture?"

"Cat, the people from KryptoWatch are dangerous," Kara remarks. "If they are here, then anything that you print about them, will put you and your staff in danger," she adds.

"Hmm," Cat considers that a moment, but not being one to back down, she asks, "Were you fighting that alien today? I saw the damage to the power plant. Can you at least confirm that?"

"Cat, you have to let this go. I can't tell you anything more. Please don't identify me and you have to stop calling me SuperGirl," Kara pleads. "I'm not a hero," she adds.

"Kara, putting yourself in danger to save others makes you a hero," Cat replies. "And if the government didn't want you marketed as a hero, they wouldn't have put you in that suit and cape," she points out.

"The suit is just to differentiate me from the other aliens. Rao! I should have listened to Alex. She tried to warn me that this would happen," Kara says frowning to herself. "Look I should go, please don't send any more reporters out to cover this, I can't be responsible for them," she adds.

"STOP!" Cat yells after her, "You didn't give me your number!"

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Care to explain this?" Hank asks tossing a copy of The Tribune down on the desk in front of Kara and Alex.

**_"SuperGirl Arrives to Protect National City from Hostile Aliens"_ **

"Uh, sir I can explain," Alex begins.

"Hank, it was my idea to talk to Cat Grant," Kara interjects.

"I should have stopped her," Alex adds.

"As if Alex could actually stop me," Kara points out. "Hank, Cat is sort of my friend, I just thought it would help if I talked to her."

"Well, this doesn't help. No more talking to the media without clearance. How did she get all of this information?" He asks.

"I don't know, I didn't give it to her," Kara replies frowning in concern, mentally going back over the conversation.

"There was media at the police station when we went to confiscate the dashcam footage of Kara turning the boy over to the police," Alex points out. "We have government tags and we flashed our Homeland Security badges to get the footage."

"This just makes everything more complicated. Kara, you are already being targeted because of your family, this Supergirl business is going to antagonize them," he counters.

"I know that, Hank. But since I couldn't tell her what was going on, I just tried to warn her that it was dangerous and to to keep her people away," Kara explains.

"Well, you realize that now it looks like you're helping them," Hank remarks.

"Helping them? They already broke the story on the prison ship before I got here," Kara reminds him.

"Actually, no one knows that they broke that story. They turned over the documents to us and we translated them, then sent out a press release, which they used to write that story," Hank explains. "We wanted these aliens to know that we knew who they were."

"Sir, madams, you're going to want to see this," Vasquez says interrupting them.

"It's Vartox again," Kara blurts out when she sees the footage of the stolen tanker.

"Kara, you don't know that," Alex replies turning around to see no one there. "Hank!" she says gesturing to where Kara was standing a second ago.

"Kara, return to base. We need to put a plan together," Hank booms into the coms link.

"We have a plan, tell him Alex," Kara replies scanning below her for the tanker truck.

"Sir, it's not exactly a plan," Alex begins, "But okay, here's what she has to do. That sliver of metal that we have from the ax, well, it indicates that the weapon is a nuclear powered device. All Kara has to do is get close enough to it and then she can do her thing," she adds.

"She better win," Hank snaps. "And what exactly is her thing?" He asks warily.

"I've got them. She's engaging him now," Vasquez remarks, as the satellite moves into position providing grainy footage from the scene.

"Can you clean that image up?" Alex asks.

"No, I think the nuclear device is interfering with the relay," Vasquez explains.

"Okay, Kara can you hear me?" Alex asks and on screen she watches her nod slowly before advancing towards Vartox, who rushes at her. But Kara is ready for him and she flips him over her shoulder sending him careening away from her and slamming into the tanker.

Kara advances on him again, leaping up to the cab of the truck. "What's the matter Vartox, you don't like fighting a girl?" She taunts.

"I prefer to fight a man, there's not much honor in killing a woman," he snaps angrily, rushing at her again.

Again, Kara steps off to the side and using his momentum, she easily flips him over her shoulder. Then she jumps down eagerly to engage with him again, but he surprises her by pulling the ax over his shoulder and striking at her with it.

She narrowly avoids it, before he's on her again, backing up she takes off but he grabs her ankle and pulls her back down, slamming her onto the hood of the truck so hard that she leaves an imprint in the metal. Then he's bringing the ax down towards her and she grips it with both hands.

"Do it now!" Alex yells into the coms and on the screen they watch as Kara's eyes lock onto the ax with her heat vision. Vartox isn't sure what she's doing so he tries to pull the ax away, but Kara's grip is strong and now she's pulling the ax towards her while he's trying to pull it away. The metal heats up and Vartox screams in pain, but he refuses to let go of it now.

"It's not working Alex," Kara shouts out, barely able to keep hold of the ax and maintain the laser vision.

"It is working, stay with it," Alex replies hoping to encourage her.

Kara grunts and groans with the effort and a moment later the ax explodes sending Vartox backwards to the ground below.

Shaking her head as her vision begins to clear, Kara scrambles to her feet to find the alien.

Taking a deep breath, she yells down to him. "It's over."

He sits up, clearly blinded from the explosion, he looks in the direction of her voice. "You have no idea what you've started," he shouts catching his breath. "It's just begun," he adds before taking shrapnel from the ax and stabbing himself in the heart.

At the command center, everyone erupts in cheers. Relieved that Kara survived the brutal fight.

Kara looks down on him, too shocked to speak. Hearing the cheering, she reaches up to turn off the coms when Alex's voice comes through.

"Kara, come back to base. We have a team enroute to take care of the scene," Alex says firmly, hoping that the sound of her voice will help bring Kara back from the shock.

On screen, Kara glances around a bit stunned by the debris from the fight, then she nods and takes flight.

"Well, she did follow your orders," Alex remarks turning around to face Hank. "She won."

"She got lucky," Hank replies before stalking off to his office.


	10. Chapter 10

Cat sits in her office staring at the news footage loop of the fight. Despite her bravado, she did instruct her chopper pilots to be more careful. The result of that is that she is sitting here watching the fight footage from another station's feed. Seeing the fight for herself, she now understands why Kara was adamant that she back off the coverage. If the authorities are to be believed, then this alien stole a tanker truck and planned to drive it into a transformer. Cat suspects it's more speculation than truth. A soft knock on her open door interrupts her thoughts.

"Hey, I have those stills for you. I think you will be pleased with the last one," James says handing her the photo gallery.

Cat looks over them quickly, then grabs her magnifying glass to look at them more closely. The last photo shows Kara standing atop the overturned truck. Dirt on her face, her hair and cape blowing out behind her, she looks magnificently and tragically heroic, Cat thinks before wondering how such poetic prose managed to find it's way through her usual filter of sarcasm and cynicism.

"This one is good," Cat replies tapping it with her finger. "Use the press release from the NCPD and have someone pull it together with some official quotes, then send it to me. I'll put it out under my byline with a staff credit."

"You don't have to do that," James remarks.

"I do, if these people are as dangerous as I've been lead to believe then I don't want them to go after anyone but me, I have security to protect me for a reason James," Cat point out.

"You think that your security is any match for these aliens?" He asks gesturing to the screen above them.

Cat is still working late when her phone buzzes. She glances and notes that it is a message from an unknown number, she ignores it and continues working.

A few minutes later it buzzes again with another message. "Can you talk?"

Curious and wondering if it is Kara, Cat replies rapidly. "That depends, is this on or off the record?"

"Off the record," is the reply from the balcony.

Cat turns quickly to look at her. "Kara, are you okay?" She asks rushing out and hugging her tightly.

Kara winces a little at the contact, "I'm fine for the most part," she replies softly, before allowing herself to relax into the embrace.

"Why are you doing this?" Cat questions softly, her voice filled with concern.

"There's no one else who can," Kara replies tiredly.

"That can't be true, there has to be someone else who can do this, it's too much to ask of you," Cat replies, pulling back to look into her eyes.

Kara looks away, there's so much that she wants to tell her, but she can't risk it.

Cat sees the emotion in Kara's face and realizes that the woman is overwhelmed, after all she is a journalist not a soldier.

"I just wanted to see you. I-I don't know why," Kara mumbles.

"It's okay," Cat says pulling her close again. "I'm happy that you're here," she adds.

"I know that I said that I wanted to talk, but there isn't really anything that I can tell you about tonight," Kara admits, her expression a mixture of exhaustion and weariness.

"Okay, then we could talk about something else," Cat says turning to sit on the couch and patting the spot beside her.

Kara sits down carefully and Cat realizes that the woman is physically exhausted and in a bit of pain.

"Does Alex know that you're here?" Cat asks, remembering that Kara has other people closer to her.

"Uh, she thinks that I'm in my room asleep," Kara replies closing her eyes as she leans back on the couch.

Cat watches her a moment, she's cleaned up since the fight ended and she's not wearing the usual cape and skirt. Cat is about to say something about the black tac suit being more practical, when she realizes that Kara has fallen asleep.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara startles awake a couple of hours later and it takes her a moment to remember where she is, then realizing that she isn't alone, she smiles as she realizes that Cat is curled up against her.

Unfortunately, Kara's movements seem to have awoken the other woman and Cat sits up, equally confused for a moment before remembering why she was sleeping on her balcony.

"You fell asleep almost as soon as you sat down," Cat informs her.

"I'm so sorry, I guess that I was more tired than I realized," Kara admits as she stretches a bit and notices that she feels much better.

"You look better. How do you feel?" Cat asks.

"Much better. Thank you," Kara replies.

"I didn't do anything," Cat points out.

Kara smiles sadly and looks away. Of course, Cat doesn't get it. It's just friendship to her, Kara realizes.

"It's late. I should get back before Alex sends out a search and rescue team to find me," Kara quips.

"Yes, I should get home myself," Cat says glancing at her watch.

"Do you live far? I could take you," Kara offers, her mouth and brain clearly not communicating.

"I don't live that far and I have a driver on call," Cat points out, unsure of what exactly Kara is offering.

Kara smiles, obviously she needs to be more clear. Stepping closer, she says, "Let me fly you home."

"Are you sure that you're up to it?" Cat asks nervously, slightly overwhelmed with Kara being so close and the thought of flying in her arms.

"Of course, and I wouldn't offer if I wasn't," Kara replies confidently.

"O-okay, so how do we do this?" Cat questions, she's not going to let her anxiety make her miss out on this opportunity.

"Do you need your things?" Kara asks gesturing to Cat's computer and phone on the table.

Cat picks up the computer and takes it inside then shuts and locks it in her desk with her purse, before taking a moment to step into her ensuite to change back into her workout clothes. Returning to the balcony, she picks up her phone and slips it into her pocket and zips it closed.

"Ready?" Kara asks smiling at her.

Cat nods anxiously and Kara slips in behind her wrapping her arms around her.

Cat's whole body goes tense.

"Is there something wrong?" Kara asks letting go, afraid that she hurt her.

"Uh, I'm afraid of heights, would you mind if I held onto you?" Cat asks shyly, turning around to face her.

"Of course," Kara replies picking her up bridal style as Cat's arms wrap around her neck.

Distracted a moment by Cat's breath on her neck, it takes Kara a moment to remember to ask where she lives.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara lands them safely on the roof terrace and sets Cat down beside a bench. But Cat doesn't release her hold on Kara's neck and instead leans in, kissing Kara lightly on the lips.

"Ah," Cat says pulling back shyly, unsure of what she's just done.

Kara laughs softly. "It's okay. I hadn't considered how intimate flying with you in my arms would be," she admits biting her lip to stop it from tingling from Cat's kiss.

"True, except that I've wanted to kiss you ever since we met," Cat confesses pulling Kara back in for another kiss.

This time, Kara returns the kiss hungrily and Cat pulls her down to the bench.

Reluctantly Kara pulls back. "Cat, I have to go," she says gently extracting herself from Cat's embrace.

"Please stay," Cat replies.

"I'm so sorry, but this. This is not a good idea," Kara answers before taking off. Flying away, she takes a deep breath. Not only has Kara not kissed many people romantically, she has never kissed anyone like she just kissed Cat Grant. And never for a second did she consider that her feelings for Cat would be reciprocated.

Flying off back to the apartment, Kara doesn't notice the alien following her. Nonchalantly, she lands on the balcony at Alex's place and steps inside. The unseen alien watches her for a moment before flying off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She's living with one human, but seems to have an affection for another," the man explains.

"I knew that she'd been corrupted by her time on Earth. She has developed a weakness for these humans," Astra laments. "We don't need them, we just need their planet. If we can't convince her to join us then we're going to have to get rid her."

"You'd kill your own blood?" Non asks his wife, surprised that she would consider harming her beloved niece.

"Hopefully, it won't come to that, but we're not going to fail again, Non," Astra replies. "Kara is stronger than we thought, look what she did to Vartox. We would be better off with her helping us," she points out.

"True, but how do you suggest getting her to do that?" He counters.

"I'm going to have a talk with her, but first I need to get her attention," Astra remarks considering which human to use for bait.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara, wake up. Something has happened," Alex says rapidly as she sits down on the bed.

The blonde sits up quickly. Immediately she senses that something is wrong with Cat. Kara fell asleep focused on the other woman's heartbeat and now that she's awake she can hear it beating frantically. "Alex, what happened? Where's Cat Grant?" She blurts out.

"Kara...how do you already know that Cat Grant has been taken?" Alex asks.

Closing her eyes to focus better, Kara replies, "Her heart is beating rapidly and I can hear her arguing with someone," she explains jumping out of bed and spinning into her suit.

"Wait, Kara!" Alex says grabbing her arm. "You can't just fly off without a plan. Whoever took her, they obviously did it to get your attention, it's a trap," she points out calmly.

"Well, I have to protect her. Do you know who took her?" Kara asks quickly.

"Hank's working on that," Alex replies, "we need to go to the DEO now."

"Okay, then let's go," Kara says grabbing Alex's hand and pulling her towards the patio door.

"Kara," Alex says as she hesitates, they haven't flown together since high school.

"Here I thought you were a Badass DEO agent? Are you scared to fly with me?" Kara taunts.

"Kara, I drove you home last night because you were too exhausted to fly, are you sure that you're up for this?" Alex asks.

"Trust me, I'm fully recovered and if you don't get over here, I'm going to leave you here to drive in alone," Kara snaps.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hank frowns when the two walk into the command center a few minutes later.

"I can assure you that she has fully recovered her powers, sir," Alex exclaims quickly.

"I hope that you're right Agent Danvers," Hank says returning to the screen. "They've taken Ms Grant to an abandoned warehouse on the waterfront," Hank explains as he points out the plan on the 3D rendering of the warehouse. "I've sent Vasquez out with the first team to set up here, Alex you'll take the next team and set up here. Kara and I will go in this way and distract them, while team one extracts Ms Grant. Alex, your team is there to protect the extraction team. Now follow me to the armory," he adds striding down the hall.

"Do we know who took her sir?" Alex asks.

Hank stops walking and turns slightly around. "It would seem that the leaders of the prison ship have taken her. I suspect that they want Kara to stop helping us and this little stunt is just to get her attention," he explains.

Alex and Kara exchange nervous glances. On the flight out, Alex asked her about her feelings for Cat Grant and Kara admitted everything.

"Sir is this really necessary?" Alex asks worriedly as Hank unlocks the door to the Armory.

"It's completely necessary, if we're going to engage with these aliens, we need to be able to fight them equally," he points out handing her the lead case with the Kryptonite bullets and a knife to slip into her utility belt.

"What exactly are these weapons?" Kara asks concerned.

"These weapons were made with matter that was confiscated from the crash sight. We call it Kryptonite, since it appears to be debris from your planet," Hank explains, "And it seems to have a quelling effect on your kind," he adds pulling the knife out of the sheath.

The sickly green glow from the knife causes Kara's knees to buckle, Alex steps into catch her.

"Put it away Hank, you don't want to weaken her before we go in," Alex snaps.

"Y-you've had that stuff this whole time and you're just now telling me about it?" Kara asks angrily.

"I wanted to tell you, but Hank said that we had to make sure that you were on our side," Alex blurts out.

"Kara, don't hold this against Alex. She wanted to tell you right away, but I wouldn't permit it," Hank replies quickly.

Alex moves towards Kara, but she brushes her off. "Not now, but we're going to discuss this later," Kara snaps before leaving the armory.

"She just needs time, now you should get going," Hank says clapping her shoulder as they leave the armory.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She's in there and she's scared," Kara says as they approach the warehouse.

J'onn closes his eyes as they hover a moment, he connects to Cat's mind and senses where she is inside the warehouse and relays the information to Kara and she informs the other teams. Since no one at the DEO knows that Hank is a martian, he doesn't have a coms link, but he doesn't need one since he has telepathic abilities and can read all minds except those of the Kryptonians.

Team one moves into position and Kara bursts into the warehouse through the roof, J'onn stays on the roof out of sight.

"So it's true, Little One. You are here on earth and you are working against us," Astra shouts out as her niece lands in front of her.

"I am not your Little One any more, Astra. And you have no right to terrorize this planet. The humans have done nothing to deserve this," Kara argues.

"They are destroying this planet," Astra replies. "We are here to save it," she explains.

"You're here to save the planet, but not the people on it?" Kara questions.

"These humans are a drain on the resources. If we don't kill them, then the planet won't be able to sustain us all," Astra snaps.

"Sustain us all?" Kara questions.

"Your parents have lied to you for months, why do you think that your mother sent Fort Rozz into the phantom zone after telling you that she wouldn't? She had to. Argo City resources are being depleted and the prison was draining them even faster," Astra explains angrily.

Distracted by the argument with Astra, Kara almost forgot that Cat was sitting there until she spots Alex on the catwalk above them with a sniper rifle pointed right at Astra's heart. Kara launches herself at Astra, knocking them both through a wall and into another part of the warehouse.

Vasquez's team takes this opportunity to burst in to grab Cat, but they have trouble cutting through the handcuffs and two of Astra's men swoop down to stop them. Alex takes a shot and it hits one of them in the chest and he cries out.

Astra and Kara stop fighting in the other room and both fly back to find out what's happening.

"He's dead," the other man says shocked.

"Dead, that's not possible. The humans do not possess a weapon that can hurt us," Astra replies, before looking over at Kara confused.

The panic on Kara's face confuses Astra even more and just as she's about to ask what is going on, she looks down at the dot on her chest and then follows it up to where Alex is positioned on the catwalk. Angrily, Astra's eyes flash red, the lasers slice the supports and the catwalk swings wildly. Alex barely managing to hold on.

Kara freezes a second looking from Alex to Cat, when suddenly J'onn swoops in and grabs the catwalk and Alex, giving Kara enough time to rush over to grab Cat and break the cuffs. They turn around quickly but Astra and the others are gone.


	11. Chapter 11

Cat Grant trembling in her arms is what draws Kara's attention away from the fact that Alex almost killed Astra twice.

"You're safe now, Cat." Kara says soothingly before picking her up and flying off.

"Kara, wait!" Alex yells after her, then looking around she realizes that J'onn has left and she's in charge of the operation. "Vasquez, let's move everyone out. Mission is complete," she barks and stalks off towards one of the SUVs waiting outside. "I need to get in the air, ASAP," she snaps as she opens the door.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Landing on Cat Grant's helipad thirty minutes later, Alex climbs down from the helicopter motioning to the pilot to wait for her. Even though Kara's not talking to her, Alex is certain that Kara would have taken Cat home. Pausing at the elevator, she takes her glove off to look at the passcode that one of her techs provided, she punches it in, then pushes the button.

The elevator doors open into a private hallway, the only door is standing open, so she enters slowly glancing around to make sure no one else is present. Not easily impressed, Alex can't help but admire the view, the open floor plan and the decor.

"What are you doing here?" Kara asks angrily. She heard the helicopter land, but didn't think the DEO would enter Cat's home without permission.

"You left the door open. And Hank sent me to make sure that Ms Grant is okay. I am a doctor," Alex reminds her.

"How did you get the elevator code?" Kara asks, closing the door.

"Kara, it's part of my job to follow up on civilians after an alien attack," Alex replies firmly.

"She refused to see her own doctor, but she let me, you know, examine her with my x-ray vision," Kara explains hesitantly. "She is not injured," she adds.

"Maybe not injured, but Kara, please let me help," Alex pleads, deciding to change tactics. "She could be traumatized."

"Traumatized?" Kara asks confused, she thought trauma was visible, but trusting Alex, she relents and steps aside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Ms Grant?" Alex calls out at the door. "Ms Grant, I'm Doctor Alex Danvers. I am coming in to check on you." She says before opening the door and entering the room.

Cat look towards the door. She's just sitting on the bed wrapped in a towel, trying to comprehend everything that happened since she left her home this morning. Seeing the petite brunette headed towards her, jolts her out of the moment.

"You don't look like a doctor," Cat quips defensively, uncomfortable with the young woman seeing her like this.

"I'm an agent and a doctor," Alex explains softly. "And I was in the warehouse this morning, so I know what happened," she adds watching her closely.

"Hmm," Cat says taking a moment to consider the slender brunette before silently deciding to trust her.

"I know more than you think, Kara told me what happened before you were abducted," Alex says as she reaches out for Cat's wrist to check her pulse rate.

"So you're here to see if I'm traumatized by this abduction?" Cat questions glaring at her a moment. "Well Agent Scully, I'm sorry to disappoint you, but I have been abducted before," she snaps.

Alex doesn't comment, but does raise an eyebrow.

"Although I have to admit, abduction by superhuman aliens is new and different," Cat adds with a soft laugh.

"Your pulse is normal," Alex says dropping her wrist. "But this isn't, you need to get ice on that," she comments brushing Cat's hair aside to look at a nasty bruise on her neck.

Cat winces at the touch,"you are not much of doctor, are you?" She asks.

"You are not much of a patient," Alex counters, moving away from the bruise and pulling out the stethoscope that she stuffed down her shirt to warm.

"Touche` Agent Scully," Cat replies surprised by the banter. "I take it that you met Kara's Aunt before today, has she always been crazy?"

Alex shrugs, this is really what she's here to assess. Hank sent her to find out what Cat was planning to do with everything that she just heard at the warehouse. Continuing the exam Alex places the stethoscope on Cat's chest above the towel and listens for a moment. Her heart is racing now, probably because she's thinking about Astra.

"It's Agent or Doctor Danvers, Ms Grant. Agent Scully is fictional and I assure you that I am not," Alex corrects her with a smirk.

"Well, Agent Doctor Danvers, I am positive that your superiors are wondering what I am going to do with the story that just fell into my lap," Cat asks readjusting her towel to ensure she stays covered.

"Uh, well..." Alex stammers and steps back. Not really surprised that the media mogul would put everything together this quickly.

"Tell them that they don't need to worry about me. I won't be printing this anytime soon, but," Cat pauses dramatically, "this is a Pulitzer Prize winning story. Now I will give your agency time to save the world, but in exchange for my discretion, I expect exclusive interviews, high level interviews," she adds, raising an eyebrow for emphasis.

"I'll see what I can work out," Alex says satisfied that the woman is okay.

"See yourself out and let Kara know I'll be out in a few minutes, I just need to get dressed," Cat says stepping back into her ensuite bathroom.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Alex reenters the living room and spots Kara out on the balcony staring at the city.

"I suppose that you heard all of that?" She asks joining her at the railing.

"Yes, and she deserves to get the story," Kara points out.

"I agree, but Kara, can we trust her not to alert anyone that the rogue aliens are trying to kill us and take our planet?" Alex asks.

"Considering that she seems to think that we can win, yes. You can trust her not to tell anyone," Kara answers.

"Why would she think that we can win? Didn't she see how many of them there were?" Alex asks.

The image of the dead Kryptonian flashes through Kara's mind, she shakes her head to dislodge it, but now she is angry with Alex about killing him and almost killing Astra.

"Well, Cat couldn't help but notice that you have weapons that can kill us!" Kara snaps at her. "Alex, you killed one of my kind today," she reminds her.

"Kara, I did it to protect Cat and my team, we're humans, those Kryptonians could have killed us all so easily, these weapons are our only protection," Alex explains.

"They wouldn't have hurt her. They only took her to get me there," Kara replies. "Astra only wanted to talk to me and you, you almost killed her right in front of me," she adds.

"Kara, she's the General, taking her out would have made capturing the others easier," Alex points out. "And they are trying to kill us and take our planet," she adds.

"Look Alex, I will reason with her, she is my blood. Blood bonds us in a way that humans can't understand," Kara exclaims.

Alex reaches out for Kara's hand. "Kara, I hope that you're right about that. And I do understand," she replies squeezing Kara's hand tightly, tears threatening to fall from her eyes. "You and I may not share blood, but we are bound to each other. We are sisters for life," Alex says thickly reminding Kara of what they promised each other as teens.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara watches Alex leave before sitting down on the garden bench to contact Kal-El.

"Kara?" Kal-El says softly. "Hold on a moment," he adds.

Kara hears voices in the background and she wonders what she is interrupting.

"Hey, how are you?" He asks with faked enthusiasm.

"Your voice is strained, Kal-El, what is going on?" she asks.

Sighing, he is still not sure what he should tell her, "You first. Tell me what's going on there," he answers.

"Astra and Non are here. They are trying to take over Earth. Kal-El, she said that Krypton is not stable, is that true?" Kara asks.

"Uh, Kara that is true," Kal-El admits reluctantly. "I've been in stabilization meetings ever since you left. And the government took over The Gazette. They claimed that I could not be impartial since I was on the Science Council," he adds anxiously.

"That explains why I haven't been able to get into the system to check on anything," Kara replies running her hand through her hair. "Why didn't you tell me?" She asks.

"I've been forbidden from contacting you, they are monitoring me" he replies heavily. "Fortunately, they don't know about this link. In-Ze created it so long ago, that I don't think that anyone checks this frequency any longer," Kal-El points out.

"Kal-El does the Council know what Astra and Non are doing here?" Kara asks.

"Yes, they do. They don't approve, but if she's successful, there is talk of moving Argo City to Earth," Kal-El replies.

"How much time do we have before Krypton will have to be evacuated?" Kara asks.

"Not much, my father has sent a team to scout Mars as another option, but it is as desolate as the deserts of Krypton and the white martians are quite powerful," Kal-El explains.

"Kal-El, why are we not negotiating for refuge. I don't understand why the Council is content to sit back and wait for Astra and Non to wipe out the humans and take Earth," Kara counters.

"Kara, not everyone on Earth is as welcoming as the people that you have met," Kal-El cautions.

"What are you saying Kal-El?" Kara asks.

"We have been told by many leaders of Earth that we are not welcome there," Kal-el explains.

Looking up, Kara sees Cat hesitating to interrupt her. "Kal-El, I must go now. But I am going to talk with Astra, our people are not warriors, we don't kill innocent people just to save our own lives," Kara says before ending the transmission.

"Forgive me for interrupting," Cat says approaching slowly.

Kara nods, still processing what she learned from Kal-El and thankful that she was speaking Kryptonian so Cat didn't understand what she overheard.

"I take it that you were talking to your cousin?" Cat asks.

Kara nods. "Astra was right, Krypton is unstable again," she admits.

"May I ask how it is that you were communicating with him?" Cat asks curiously.

Kara smiles slightly before reaching up and moving her hair back to reveal the small device clipped to her ear.

Cat looks at it a moment, it doesn't look like much. She mistook it for an earring of some sort. "That is how you're able to talk to Kal-El?" She asks.

Kara nods, she's about to explain that her grandfather invented it when Cat continues talking.

"Astra wears one on her ear, I saw it when we were flying," Cat says. "Who do you think that she's in contact with back on Krypton?"

Kara closes her eyes against the truth that she doesn't want to believe. Then stoically, she replies, "There is only one person, my mother." This revelation weighs heavily on Kara, because it means that her mother and Astra are working together. Kara should have known that Alura would never banish her only sister to the phantom zone, it was all a ruse to send her to Earth.

"Kara?" Cat sits down beside her. "What does that mean?"

"I-I'm not sure. There is still so much that I need to figure out," Kara says standing up.

Disappointed Cat looks down, she doesn't want Kara to see her face and know how much she wants her to stay.

Kara clicks on the comslink and strides across the terrace. "Alex, I'm not coming back to base right away. I have a few things to work out first, but let Hank know that I'm going to do everything that I can to protect this planet," Kara says with a confidence that she barely feels. Striding back over to Cat, Kara pauses in front of her, unsure of what to say and even less sure of what to do.

Cat stands up, composed now. "Would it be possible for you to drop me off at the office? Apparently the FBI still has my car and driver in protective custody," she asks.

"Uh, okay. Are you sure that you're ready to go back to work?" Kara blurts out.

"Of course, besides I'm probably safer there than here," Cat points out.

"No, actually you won't be. Astra and Non will expect you to go there," Kara counters as she realizes that the same is true about the penthouse. "Cat is there somewhere else that you could go?" She asks.

"I'm staying put, Cat Grant doesn't run from terrorists," the media mogul snaps.

"Cat, be reasonable! They know that they can use you to get to me," Kara replies. "Please, I need you to be safe so that I can figure this out," she adds staring into her eyes intently.

Cat shivers, the intensity of Kara's ice blue eyes conveying more than just concern for her safety.

"I-I have a beach house, not far from here. It's private, not many people know about it," Cat stammers.

"Okay, then let me take you there," Kara asks almost pleading.

Nodding Cat agrees, "Just let me make a few calls first and arrange.."

"No. No one can know where you are and Astra can track your voice, so you need to stay off the phone," Kara points out.

"If she can hear me, then she's heard this whole conversation, what is the point of hiding?" Cat questions.

"I'm blocking her, she can't hear you when we're together" Kara says. "Now do you need anything before we leave?" She asks.

"Just a few things," Cat says walking towards the elevator to grab a few things from the penthouse, fortunately she doesn't need to pack a bag for the beach house, she keeps everything that she needs there.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Kara enters the DEO a few hours later. "Hank, we need to talk," she says approaching him.

"Yes, we certainly do," he grumbles following her into his office.

"This is more than just some rogue Kryptonians terrorizing National City," she says pacing his office anxiously.

"I think that we all know that now," he reminds her.

Kara pulls back her hair to show the device. "This allows me to communicate with my cousin on Krypton," she begins to explain. "My grandfather created it before I came to Earth for the exchange in high school; they are like yours but much stronger."

"You're able to communicate with someone on Krypton right now?" He marvels.

"Yes, but my point is that so is Astra. Hank, she and my mother are working together. Krypton is unstable, they are doing this together because they want to relocate all Kryptonians to Earth," Kara explains.

"We have a refugee program in place, they can come here without killing us," he points out.

"Yes, but my aunt is what you would call an eco terrorist. When she realized that Krypton was dying, she plotted to kill everyone who wasn't following the strict guidelines to conserve our resources. She and her husband were imprisoned for it. But now Krypton is unstable and she has managed to convince my mother that this is the only way to save Krypton," Kara counters.

"How can we stop her?" Hank asks.

"I'm not sure, but I have a few ideas," Kara replies.

"Okay, well let's sit down and discuss them," Hank says pulling out a chair for her.


	12. Chapter 12

_Late last night, media mogul Cat Grant issued a statement regarding rumors that she was abducted yesterday morning on her way to work. According to her statement she was not abducted, the stunt was actually an elaborate prank played on her by her friends from the Daily Planet to commemorate her twentieth year in the Media Industry._

_Many people do not realize that Cat Grant began her journalism career at the Daily Planet as Perry White's girl friday..._

Cat mutes the tv, not wishing to relive that time of her life. Pausing a moment, she watches the photo montage that James put together, it isn't too bad considering that it's been less than ten hours since she decided to issue the statement and she only decided to release the photos a few hours ago. Shaking her head and laughing softly, James told her that it was a waste of money to have an IT expert remove every photo of her from the internet. For once he was right, but how could Cat possibly know that only a few months later, she would need to release them herself, just to save the world. Well that is a tad dramatic, she thinks to herself. But still covering up the abduction with this ridiculous prank story; Cat still can't believe that Lois agreed to help her without any deep details on what she was covering up. Of course, knowing Lois, she also knows that the woman can smell a Pulitzer Prize story at inception.

Cat's phone buzzes to indicate a text message.

_Lane: Interview with Anderson went well. Played up our feud. You'll love it._

_Cat: I think you're enjoying this._

_Lane: I am. It's been a slow news month, we don't have rogue aliens abducting people here._

_Cat: Don't be so dramatic, it wasn't what you think._

_Lane: I want to know who rescued you and what does he/she look like?_

_Cat: You read too many trashy romance novels Lois._

Cat smirks at the last comment, she loves to remind Lois that she knows that beneath her crusty cynical reporter shell, there lies the heart of a true romantic. They actually have that in common, though Cat would never be caught dead reading anything that is not on the New York Times bestseller list.

_Lane: Hey do you need anything?_

_Cat: You don't even know where I am?_

Lois sends a photo from one of their early beach getaways after Cat bought the beach house.

Cat sighs, despite their frenemy exterior, she has to admit that Lois is one of the few people who she can trust to be able to hold her own if the need arises.

_Cat: I'll send a list, just make sure you're not followed._

_Lane: I've won a Pulitzer Prize for reporting undercover, Kitty. I've got this._

_Cat: Let me know when you're close and I'll send you a security code for the gate._

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"She is in a safe location. I reworked her security feed to report to my phone, your programing languages are primative by the way," Kara remarks to the DEO team around the table.

"You hacked into her security feed and programed it to go to your DEO provided secure link phone?" Alex blurts out glancing over at Vasquez.

"Making sure that she didn't break the security protocol, Ma'm" Vasquez replies to Alex as she begins pecking hard on her keyboard.

"I didn't breach your security features, I've enhanced them," Kara smirks waiting to see if the agent can get into her phone data.

"Ma'am, I can't get into her phone," Vasquez says after trying several times. Then turning to Kara she says, "You have to show me how you did that."

"Later, right now we need to focus on how to stop an army of Kryptonians from taking over Earth," Hank grumbles at them.

"I've got an idea for that too," Kara says holding up her hand.

Everyone around the table looks at her and she lowers her hand. "What? Isn't that your thing?" She asks.

"Kara, you're the best authority on Kryptonians in the room, you don't need to ask to speak, just tell us what you're thinking," Alex remarks, laughing softly, only Kara would be thoughtful and courteous in a meeting to save the world.

"I am going to switch my Kryptonian link over to their frequency and contact them..." she begins.

"Too risky, once they know you have it, they'll stop using it or they will be able to listen in on your conversations with your cousin, although they could already be doing that," Hank points out.

"No, if Mother knew we had them then she would have confiscated the device from Kal-El and she would have contacted me by now," Kara counters.

"Kara, it doesn't really matter because we are way past the whole talking it out point. They have started a war and we have to defend ourselves," Alex replies.

"No. I refuse to accept that my people will take this planet by force. Give me some time to work this out with them, I know that I can reach them. I know that I can find a compromise," Kara argues.

"You have twenty-four hours," Hank replies standing up to end the meeting.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Explain to me why I drove two hours to meet you in a grocery store parking lot in Calabasas?" Lucy complains as she approaches her sister.

"What you suddenly don't like to go the beach for the weekend?" Lois quips.

"Lois, there's no beach in Calabasas," Lucy points out, wondering if her sister has finally lost it.

"Relax, we're just stocking up. Now, you're sure that you weren't followed?" Lois asks looking around the parking lot.

"No, I wasn't followed," Lucy snaps. "I worked covert ops in Afghanistan," she reminds her sister, but looks around just the same. Her eyes stopping when she sees Lois pick up a pair of binoculars and combs the sky above them.

"Who exactly do you think would follow me?" She asks now a bit worried.

"No one in particular, but I'm involved in a big story and we're going to meet one of my contacts at a secluded beach house, you're the muscle," Lois confesses.

"I'm the muscle? Lois, that's not how this works. You don't invite me to the beach and then tell me that I'm on security detail. I'm not prepared," Lucy replies angrily.

"Don't worry sis, I brought some things for you," Lois says adding a cheeky smile, "but first let's grab supplies."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Just how long are we planning to stay at this location?" Lucy asks watching Lois load the cart up with enough food to last a month. "I have a job, it's not like I can just call my boss and tell her that I need a month off for your latest crisis."

"I have a feeling that your boss won't care if you take a month off for this particular crisis," Lois quips.

"Wait, she is the crisis? I knew it!" Lucy exclaims. "I didn't believe that prank story, you're not that good at pranks for one thing."

"Hey, I'm excellent at pranks, but let's not talk here. We can talk on the way," Lois points out looking around quickly to make sure no one's listening to them.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

By the time they arrive at the private entrance to Cat's beach house, Lois and Lucy have put their heads together and figured out a few different scenarios that could have triggered Cat Grant to hide at her beach house, because she has never been one to hide from a fight.

Lois pulls up to the gate and enters the code that was provided. The gates slide open rather quickly and begin to close, just barely letting her pass through. Lucy is impressed that Cat would have such high level security gates.

Pulling up to the back of the house, they notice a garage door opening so Lois drives the car into the bay and before she can turn the car off the door is closed behind them.

"Uh, I've entered US Embassies that aren't this secure," Lucy remarks as she climbs out of the vehicle.

"Well, this is Cat Grant were talking about. Don't forget that she has been abducted before. She takes her personal security seriously," Lois remarks as they move around to the back of the small SUV.

"Here, this is for you," she adds grabbing the strap of what appears to be military-style go bag.

"Where the hell did you get a go bag?" Lucy asks.

"Lu, I know people. Now if there's something else that you need, just let me know and I can get it delivered," Lois smirks.

Unzipping the bag, Lucy can't help but gasp at the weaponry available to her.

"I trust that you're familiar with all of that?" Lois inquires.

"Yeah, but what the hell are we expecting? War of the Worlds?" Lucy quips.

"Something like that," Cat says leaning in the doorway that leads into the house.

"Kitty," Lois says going over to look at the horrible bruise on her neck. "No wonder you've retreated," she exclaims.

"Hmm, this is nothing. Do I need to remind you that I was shot while undercover and still got the story," Cat quips.

"Yes, yes, you were shot in the leg," Lois says, turning to her sister. "GI Jane here will need to be filled in on what she's up against. I'm sure that you'll want to have that discussion without me, so I'll unload the supplies," she says waving them both out of the garage.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I take it that this is related to the alien prison ship story?" Lucy asks as she follows Cat into the house.

"Yes. They have taken umbrage with the SuperGirl coverage and expressed it yesterday morning by abducting me," Cat replies.

"You realize that you're still not safe from them and it doesn't matter how many guns I have. Those aliens are bulletproof and pretty much invincible," Lucy points out.

"Yes, I know that. It would seem that Lois doesn't," Cat admits nervously. "I-I really just wanted company and she offered to come out. I didn't realize that she had contacted you, but since you are here, there is a lot that we can work on," Cat admits as they enter the living room.

"Do you want to start with why they abducted you? Was it to get Kara Zor-El's attention?" Lucy asks bluntly.

"Well, you're more like your sister than I had previously given you credit for," Cat replies, as she opens the patio door and gestures for Lucy to step out first.

"Is that why they took you?" Lucy repeats the question.

"Y-yes. They wanted her attention. But it's not.., we're not involved exactly. It is true that she has visited me a few times at the office. They must have been following her," Cat explains her voice devoid of emotion, but there's slight panic in her eyes.

"You kissed her or she kissed you?" Lucy asks suddenly as they walk over to the edge of the patio and look out at the ocean.

Cat glares sullenly at the small brunette, refusing to answer.

Lucy decides to wait her out. Crossing her arms, she leans against the railing that surrounds the pool area.

"What difference would it make, if we did?" Cat snaps. "It hasn't happened again, so I don't think it meant anything, okay?"

"Hmm, you kissed her," Lucy says noting how off balance Cat looks discussing this with her.

"Why does that matter?" Cat asks angrily.

"It matters because I need to know if her feelings for you are clouding her judgement. Since she was able to convince you to come out here, it would appear that she is thinking clearly and protecting her mission, so I'll trust her judgement and follow her lead," Lucy replies matter of factly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"What the hell?" Lucy shouts as Kara lands abruptly in front of her causing her to pull her weapon in surprise as the hero lands in front of her, cape billowing behind her.

"Who are you?" Kara yells back glaring suspiciously. When the gate alarm sounded, Kara bolted for the beach house without thinking. As she approached the house, she realized that Cat wasn't in danger, but she doesn't know who this person is lurking outside with weapons.

"Lucy, stand down," Cat says rushing out the patio door when she heard the shouting.

"Cat, you can't just invite people to visit, I'm trying to keep you safe!" Kara exclaims incredulously.

"Kara, it's fine. Lucy Lane is my attorney and a highly decorated Army Major," Cat replies, then to conclude the introduction, she adds, "Lucy, Kara Zor-El my friend from Krypton."

"Kara Zor-El, of course," Lucy says as she reholsters her weapon.

"Cat do you have any idea how fast I flew here when the gate alarm sounded," Kara says angrily following her into the kitchen to where Lois is standing in awe of the woman in cape and skirt.

Cat looks at Lois and realizes that she has no idea who Kara is. "Lois, Kara. Kara this is Lois Lane, she's an old friend who is helping me cover up the abduction and she brought me supplies," Cat explains. "And they used a code, the gate alarm shouldn't have been triggered."

"I reprogrammed it to alert me when it opens," Kara replies quickly, her eyes raking over the sight of Cat dressed casually in linen capris and sleeveless blouse.

Cat rolls her eyes dramatically, hoping to distract Lois.

Kara then looks from one slight brunette to the other as Lucy enters the room, "You are sisters," she remarks.

"Yeah, and you're what... an alien?" Lois asks perplexed that the woman standing in front of them isn't human.

"She's Supergirl. Lois, you know, the alien who has been helping people," Lucy exclaims. "I am a big fan of that, by the way," she adds extending her hand. "Sorry about earlier, you, uh, caught me off guard."

"Uh thanks," Kara replies shaking the small strong hand carefully, noting that Lucy Lane reminds her a lot of Alex.

"Maybe you should get me up to speed on what I'm looking out for here," Lucy says taking Kara's elbow and leading her out of the kitchen.

Lois watches her little sister and Kara walk out of the kitchen talking logistics and strategy. Still struggling to comprehend that Kara is an alien, she stammers, "She. Is. A-an alien?"

Cat turns to her friend and beams a smile, then picks up her phone and snaps a photo.

"What the hell?" Lois blurts out.

"Oh I just wanted proof. Lois Lane speechless. No one will believe me without proof," Cat teases.

"T-there's no way that she is an alien, Cat," Lois finally stammers. "I would sooner believe that she's an Amazon princess than an alien from outer space."

"Lois, no one says alien any longer, and it is time that we stop thinking that we're the only humanoids in the universe," Cat quips. "Kara Zor-El is from Krypton. She is the Editor in Chief of the Argo City Gazette," she adds going over to the counter to retrieve her glass of wine.

"She's an alien and a journalist," Lois repeats as if still trying to process the words.

Cat frowns at the word alien. "She a Kryptonian, Lane. An author too. She's written several books, which she's also illustrated," Cat adds proudly.

Lois smirks and goes over to pick up her own glass of wine. "Wow, I understand everything now," she quips, before taking a sip.

"Lois, it's not what you think," Cat replies.

"Hmm, have you seen the way she looks at you?" Lois asks.

"Lois, this isn't the time or place for this discussion. Besides, you don't know what you're talking about. She's half my age and doesn't even live on this planet," Cat reminds her.

"Lucy used to be obsessed with space travel as a child. Cat did you know that her first choice was Intergalactic Law?" Lois points out.

"What does either of those things have to do with anything?" Cat asks impatiently.

"If I remember correctly, Krypton has a small red sun. Their days are shorter and their time passes more quickly, my point is that Kara Zor-El could actually be our age or older," Lois explains smugly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"You're smiling again and I'm not saying anything funny," Lucy points out as she and Kara walk out to the edge of the property. The intention was to finish their earlier strategy session.

"Sorry, on Krypton, our warrior tribe were the largest beings on the planet. On Earth your warriors come in all sizes, I find it interesting that someone so small perceives themselves as threatening," Kara explains.

Offended, Lucy steps back. "When this is over, we should spar. I'd love to show you how threatening I can really be," she snaps a bit.

"No, I've learned that lesson from Alex, no thanks," Kara replies putting up her hands to surrender.

"Wait, is Alex. Alex Danvers?" Lucy asks.

"Yes, do you know her?" Kara asks.

"No, but I've followed her work. I even read her dissertation on Krypton. Wow, so that was all about you and your family on Krypton," Lucy exclaims, suddenly allowing her mind to put it all together.

"Yeah, it was. I helped her write it, but don't tell anyone," Kara jokes.

"You know, I still can't believe that I'm standing here on Earth talking with a Kryptonian. You know that I almost went on that Krypton trip?" Lucy remarks.

"You'd love Argo City, it's beautiful," Kara says wistfully. "But now I'm curious, why didn't you go?"

"James and I had just broken up and Cat didn't think that we could put it behind us," Lucy admits.

"You and James, oh right, I actually haven't met him yet," Kara replies with a knowing nod.

"He was just a photographer when we first met, then he moved to National City to work for CATCO as Director of Photography. Then I finished my tour with the Army and Cat offered me the job of general council, I accepted it immediately, because who wouldn't want to work for CATCO, the top woman owned media empire in the world!" Lucy exclaims.

"I think you mean galaxy, she does have satellite offices on three different planets in two different solar systems," Kara points out. "Is that why you two broke up? Working together didn't work out?"

"Not exactly, but it was part of it. James' ambition and decision to be a corporate executive was the other part of it. I fell in love with James the photographer, this corporate drone, just isn't the same man," Lucy explains.

"I understand," Kara replies thinking of Mala and how much she changed when she took over the news desk. "My ex and I worked together on Krypton," she adds.

"So you had your own little media empire on Krypton?" Lucy asks.

"Uh, not really an empire," Kara replies embarrassed. "I ran the news corporation that my grandfather created."

"Well, Cat and James were quite impressed with it," Lucy remarks.

"It's gone now. My mother took it over and shut it down," Kara points out. "Not to mention, Krypton isn't stable and needs to be evacuated."

"Well, you could always stay here and work with Cat," Lucy counters brightly. Since they've already discussed the impending demise of Krypton, she wants to steer the conversation away from that.

"Maybe," Kara admits, although the thought of living on Earth and having a normal life doesn't seem possible right now.

"Have you met either of her sons yet?" Lucy asks.

Kara shakes her head no. Damn, all this time and she hadn't thought about Cat's family at all, only Cat.

"Excuse me, I need to check in," Kara says stepping away and slowly floating upward and out towards the water.

"Kara?" Alex says as soon as she hears the wind in her comslink.

"Yeah, I'm here. Have we sent anyone out to check on Cat's family?" Kara asks.

"I have a surveillance team out there now, why has something happened?" Alex questions.

"No, it's just I forgot that she had a family," Kara admits.

"Hey, it's okay. I took care of it," Alex replies. "Everything is going okay there?" She asks.

"Yes, it's fine," Kara says, before taking a deep breath and adding, "I'm almost done here, I'll see you in an hour or so." She ends the link and then takes a short flight around the property. Landing in front of Cat, who has replaced Lucy on the beach.

"Hey," Kara says nervously.

"You're still here?" Cat exclaims relieved.

"I wouldn't leave without saying goodbye," Kara says coming closer to her.

"But you are leaving," Cat replies looking away, resigned to the fact that Kara has to leave to finish this.

"This will all be over soon," Kara remarks softly before wrapping her arms around her.


	13. Chapter 13

Flying back from the beach house, Kara lands on a scenic outlook to admire the view and consider everything. Haunted by the disappointed look on Cat's face when she told her that she had to leave and possibly wouldn't be back for a few days, Kara takes a deep breath and slowly exhales it. It's getting harder to stay focused on the mission. She must keep her distance from Cat until everything is resolved. But she has to admit, if Krypton is unstable, it's quite likely that Earth will be her new home. Kara sighs and then clicks the link to check in with Kal-El.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I can't say," Cat remarks for the second time. She called Robert using Lois Lane's phone and Skype connection.

"We've been told that we cannot leave the house indefinitely. Cat, just who the hell is after you now?" Robert asks angrily.

"Robert, you know that I would tell you if I could, but you are safer not knowing," Cat reminds him.

"Do you have any idea how many times you've given me that line?" Robert scoffs. "Carter thinks that he saw that girl flying over the house today, the hero, the one you've been lauding in The Tribune," he says. "Does she have something to do with this?"

"Robert, she can't tell you that," Lois snaps entering his field of vision. "You have to trust that she's doing everything to keep you all safe," she adds.

"How is it that Lois always manages to be in the thick of it?" He replies snidely.

When Cat told Robert that she was bisexual, he always accused the two of them of having an affair. Even when Lois was engaged to another reporter at The Planet, Robert questioned their relationship.

Cat glances over at Lois and shakes her head. "This isn't productive, Robert. And I have to keep this short. May I please speak with the boys?"

Robert huffs, but steps out of view for a moment.

The two boys enter the room and quickly approach the computer.

"Hey Mom," they both say in unison as they sit down, Carter smiling, but Adam scowling.

"Adam, Carter," Cat says smiling at them both. "I apologize. I had no idea that I was putting any of us in danger with any of these stories," she adds genuinely apologetic.

"It's kind of cool," Carter says shrugging it off. "I saw Supergirl flying over the house earlier!" He adds.

"It was probably just a falcon. And it's not cool. We're on house arrest and we haven't done anything wrong!" Adam says angrily.

"I'll make it up to you both, I promise," Cat replies quickly.

"Boys, time is up. Your Mom has to go," Lois says with a small wave to both of them.

"But you're watching out for her right?" Carter asks worriedly.

"I am and so is Lucy," Lois replies.

"Lucy?" Adam asks perking up. He's had a crush on Lucy Lane since he met her. "Why couldn't she be here with us?" He asks.

"Guys, just hang in there. This will all be over soon and you'll both have an amazing story to tell, I promise," Lois says brightly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"See, they are fine," Lois remarks after ending the call.

"Adam hates me," Cat counters sadly.

"He doesn't hate you. He hates being cooped up at home on a weekend. He's twenty-two years old and dating a model, he wants to be surfing and doing god knows what at the local beach," Lois reminds her.

Cat sighs, then puts her hand to her face and pinches her nose slightly.

Lois places a hand on the smaller woman's shoulder. "I'll give you a minute, but no wallowing. This isn't your fault," she says firmly.

"Lois, I'm not wallowing," Cat snaps.

"I thought we agreed that you wouldn't be snappish," Lois replies with a wry smile at the old joke.

Cat shakes her head and purses her lips. "Thank you," she says softly.

"Did you say something, I didn't quite catch it," Lois teases.

"Leave. Now." Cat says waving her off.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Kara, we agreed that you would stay away from Cat's family," Alex says when the hero returns to the DEO that afternoon.

"I just flew over," Kara replies.

"They are safe. And you said yourself that you don't think Astra and Non would harm them," Alex reminds her.

"I know, but I promised Cat that I would check on them," Kara explains.

"Look, we've got this," Alex says firmly, placing her hands on Kara's shoulders.

"Okay," Kara says relaxing a little as Alex pulls her into a hug.

Breaking the embrace, Alex switches back to agent mode, "Now what did you find out from Kal-El?" She asks.

Kara takes a breath and begins pacing a bit. "His sources say that there was a member of the Brainiac tribe on board the ship. It's possible that she hacked into the navigational system on the prison ship and that she is responsible for them escaping the Phantom Zone," she explains.

"You don't believe it?" Alex questions, noting the skepticism in Kara's tone and body language.

"Well, I still can't believe that my mother would banish Astra to the Phantom Zone," Kara answers.

"From everything that I've read, Kryptowatch was a dangerous organization. Your mom would have been justified in containing them by any means necessary, " Alex remarks.

"I know that their methods were wrong, but they weren't wrong. Conservation prevented the first crisis on Krypton," Kara exclaims.

"Yes, but killing people who don't conserve is not reasonable," Alex points out.

"They didn't actually kill anyone," Kara replies.

Alex decides to let the argument go and refocus the conversation. "Kara, what do you think really happened? Is it possible that this Brainiac person hijacked the ship while it was on Krypton and that your mother never sent it to the Phantom Zone?"

Kara looks up quickly, she hadn't considered that possibility and neither had Kal-El. It would make sense, if the Brainiac could hack into the ship's navigational system, there's no reason she couldn't launch it into space. Everyone would assume that it was just being sent to the phantom zone, except her Mother. Kara closes her eyes to focus, would her mother have known at that point that Krypton was about to destabilize? Would she have put the Brainiac onboard the isolated prison ship as a way to ensure that Kryptowatch could leave Krypton?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Astra," Kara exclaims when the men swarm around her and her aunt drops slowly into view.

"Did you really think that this was over?" Astra asks as two of her men each take one of Kara's arms.

Kara flinches and tears herself out of their grasp before kicking one in the head, sending him down towards the earth. The other darts after him to save him.

"I'm not going to fight you, Astra. If we are going to save our people, then we are going to have to work together," Kara points out.

"Work together?" Astra questions. "Good, then you have come to your senses," she adds smugly.

"We need to work together with the humans," Kara explains. "Together we can save this planet and share it for years to come," she adds.

"You are blind to the truth, my dear niece. The humans are destroying this planet. And since they fear us, they will not allow us to help them save it," Astra counters.

"Astra, you and your men have been terrorizing them, that's why they are afraid of us," Kara snaps. "When I first came to Earth they were not scared of us. I lived among them, I was accepted," she points out.

"Only a few knew the truth about you and the rest simply thought that you were human too," Astra counters. "When I arrived people were not as welcoming."

They take a moment to land on a rooftop and Astra approaches Kara and brushes her hair away from her ear. "I knew that you were working with someone on Krypton. Who is it?"

"That isn't important Astra. How many people can the prison ship hold? Have you considered that you could take it back to Krypton and save the people of Argo City?" Kara asks.

"Do you not think that I have already offered to do that?" Astra shouts. "They don't trust me, they think that I will send them to the Phantom Zone."

"Astra, I know that my Mother helped you. She believes that you can save our people, but not like this. Not with death and destruction," Kara points out.

"My dear sister did not help me escape Krypton. She imprisoned me in the desert of Krypton to rot in a sweltering ancient Kandorian Prison ship. Had we managed to escape that prison, we would have died of exposure in the desert outside of Kandor," Astra counters angrily.

"Unless, Indigo could hack into the navigation system of the ship. Astra, do you really think Mother didn't know that a Brainiac like Indigo could do that? She was counting on it. Why else would she have imprisoned you all together?" Kara questions.

The truth slowly registers across Astra's countenance. She had been so angry with Alura for so long, that she hadn't considered that her sister had actually set her up to escape.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"El Mayara," Alura and Zor-El say in unison. It's more of a prayer than a statement at this point. The House of El has been discussing how to evacuate the planet for days now, but with no destination available to them, the conversation seems pointless.

"Kara is there. She is on Earth," Kal-El blurts out. "She knows everything and she is working to convince Astra and Non to stop terrorizing the planet and work out a compromise with the human leaders."

"Son, how could you not tell us her location?" Jor-El questions.

"Father, she left to avoid shaming The House of El. She went to Earth to protect the people from the Kryptonian prison ship," Kal-El explains.

"She is not a warrior, how could she think that she could protect Earth?" Jor-El asks.

"It is proven that Kryptonians have superior abilities under Earth's yellow sun," Zor-El reminds them all. "Kara has the heart of a hero. I have no doubt that she is making a difference, perhaps that is what we are missing here," he adds glancing over at his wife.

"Astra and Non have offered to send the prison ship back to Krypton to help us evacuate. The Brainiac still has control of the ship, so they can send it back empty and we can fill it with refugees and supplies for the return trip," Alura interjects.

Jor-El and Zor-El look at her in shock, neither realized that Alura was in contact with her sister.

"That ship could hold a significant amount of our people, but how do we know that they will be evacuated to Earth? Indigo is the least trustworthy of all the Brainiac people," Jor-El points out.

"Once the ship is here, we will have to get control of it," Zor-El counters.

"If the Brainiac has control of the ship, it will be difficult to remove her from the operating system. Indigo operates like a virus any attempts to force her out will only make her harder to fight," Alura remarks. "The best way to lure her out of the ship's navigational system will be to offer her another system to infiltrate."

"She won't be tempted by anything on this planet," Jor-El retorts.

"What about the satellite system that protects Kandor?" Zor-El suggests.

"She helped design it, but why would she be tempted to stay here?" Alura asks.

"The Brainiac tribe in Kandor is not evacuating. They are her people, perhaps she would consider staying here to help them," Zor-El points out.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"I am evacuating the children to Almerac," Kal-El explains to Kara.

"Why did they pick you to evacuate the children?" Kara questions.

"I offered to do it. I know Almerac almost as well as you know Earth," he reminds her. "And I can keep them safe there until it is time to reunite them with their families."

"Kal-El, be safe and I am so proud of you my dear cousin," Kara says beaming a huge smile.

"Kara, you will have to stay sharp and focused. Indigo is malicious and cunning. Remember that you can not trust her or Non, no matter what Astra tells you. They do not follow her counsel, they only follow their own," Kal-El points out.

Kara nods, "I know that and I've used it to my advantage with Astra. Thank you Kal-El," she adds before ending the communication.

Kara and Astra land outside of the DEO and two teams of agents immediately flank around them.

"Ms Zor-El, you have brought an enemy combatant onto our base unrestrained," Hank bellows.

"Astra In-Ze is not an enemy, she is an ally. Let us explain," Kara says firmly as both Kryptonians stand calmly at ease.

Alex motions for the agents to stand down. "How do we know that we can trust her?" She asks.

"You trust me and I trust her, that has to be enough for now," Kara points out.

Hank stares intently at the pair. Astra mumbles something in Kryptonian under her breath and Hank smiles, before answering her telepathically.

Surprised, Astra stares directly at him and asks telepathically, "Who are you to know and speak my language?"

"I am J'onn J'onzz from Mars," he replies wordlessly, surprised that the Kryptonian would open up to him telepathically.

Kara shares a knowing look with Astra. "Perhaps we could move this inside. We have a lot to discuss," she interjects out loud, not wanting to draw attention to their silent conversation.

"Yes, we do," Hank says out loud, gesturing for them to follow Alex into the base.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While Hank and Astra meet alone in his office, Kara explains why she is willing to trust Astra.

"Non is worthy of your concern," Kara replies. "Astra's marriage to him was never understood by my family. Non is of the warrior tribe, the last of his kind. Most were wiped out during the first destabilization period of Krypton," she explains.

"If he is the last of the warrior tribe, then why would he make Astra the General?" Alex asks.

"He knew that putting Astra In-Ze in front would protect him and give his cause credibility. Astra is a brilliant scientist, Alex. She worked tirelessly with the Science Council to map out a conservation program to stabilize Krypton. It was her plan that made it possible for us to save Argo City and Kandor the first time," Kara answers.

"Hmm," Alex considers. "I just don't understand how she went from one extreme to the other."

"That was all Non. The warrior tribe were naturalists who lived in harmony with the planet, but not all were so noble. Non's brother lead a group of trophy hunters who killed for sport and they over hunted the wilderness, all but leading to the extinction of several species. Non led the group of warriors who hunted them down and killed them all.

"He hunted down and killed his own brother?" Alex questions with a shiver.

Kara nods. "Yes, and when you were visiting Krypton, she hadn't met Non yet," the blonde points out.

"Wait, Astra and my father were working together," Alex blurts out. "She was the scientist on Krypton who was studying the atmospheric effects on humanoids across galaxies. My mother told me that it was a scientific exchange program and that it wasn't exactly sanctioned by the government."

"Yes, it was a scientific exchange program approved by the Council of Elders on Krypton. Astra and my father were monitoring us the whole time, first they had to evaluate Earth's atmospheric effect on me, then they made adjustments to Argo City's atmosphere for you," Kara answers. "Astra explained that the whole purpose of the exchange was to ensure that humans could exist on Krypton."

"So everything that they told us about the exchange wasn't true. We weren't specially selected, Kara. We were the only options for the exchange. How long have you known?"

"A few hours, Astra just told me," Kara confesses. "But Alex, the fact that they used us means they were certain that it would work. Our parents would never have put us in danger," she adds.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Non, I don't trust the elder council," Indigo says after he outlines the offer from Krypton.

"Kandor and the whole planet will be ours," Non reminds her.

"My people will not evacuate," Indigo remarks pacing around the command console.

"Once Argo City is evacuated the planet can be restabilized," he remarks.

"Not everyone from Argo City will be able to evacuate on the ship," Indigo points out.

"They've already evacuated some people to Almerac," Non explains.

"To Almerac?" Indigo questions.

"Yes, mainly children and young adults. The remaining population of Argo City will fill the ship, but they do not trust you to navigate it," he replies walking up closer to her.

"I will only agree to stay in Kandor if you will leave Astra and come with me," Indigo says turning to him and placing her hands on his shoulders.

Wrapping his arms around her, he smiles down at her. "Of course, darling. We'll save Krypton for ourselves," he replies smugly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my gosh, so I am planning to move to the Caribbean in early October, which means that I am going to finish this story and then go on hiatus for a month or so. Crazy with excitement and anxiety. I have to sell, store or give away 95% of my possessions... I will have internet and tv, but not sure how long it will take me to settle in and have time to write.


	14. Chapter 14

The first few days the three women spent documenting and writing down everything that they knew about the situation. Cat did not share everything with the other two, but she did work with them on the story that she and Lois agreed to joint publish in both The Daily Planet and The Tribune.

Once they exhausted the information available to them, they each raided Cat's bookshelves for books to read and spent another day or two reading around the pool.

Today, Lois and Cat sit on the beach under an umbrella watching Lucy trying to surf in the small waves. They received an all clear text on Cat's phone from an identified number that morning, but they haven't heard anything further. Cat insists that they wait to hear from Kara, so to pass the time, they have come out to the beach.

"That last wave was good, I just miscalculated. Who's next?" Lucy jokes plopping down on a towel in the sun too tired to peel off the wetsuit.

"As if," Lois quips looking up from the book she's reading.

Cat is eyeing her own wetsuit and considering going out on the board when Lois' phone buzzes with a message informing them there is a White House Press Conference in an hour.

The three scramble into the house and turn on the tv. CNN and MSNBC are both reporting that The President has convened a secret International Summit on Intergalactical Relations at Camp David, the first meeting of its kind.

Lois grabs paper and pen to begin taking notes on the coverage. Lucy, heads into the kitchen to grab a pitcher of water and three glasses, which she then sits down on the table in front of them.

Cat has her laptop open and is furiously typing emails to her staff, providing direction and guidance as to how she wants this covered. Her executive producer is doing a great job, but Cat is still pissed that her Washington bureau didn't follow protocol and alert her about this press conference.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"We have breaking news from the White House International Summit on Intergalactical Relations," the broadcaster begins.

"The President has met with International League of Nations to discuss the issue of intergalactic refugees. The science community is split over this topic. While many scientists are eager to meet and learn from the Kryptonian scientists, others are terrified that the superior race will enslave all of Earth if we allow them to settle on our planet."

On the screen, Cat watches the footage of Supergirl sitting beside The President. Mesmerized by how easily she seems to be conversing with her and not surprised to see President Marsdin looking completely spellbound by the blonde hero.

Cat and Lois exchange looks, then slowly they both turn to Lucy.

Cat, Lois, "I have no idea how they got Supergirl into that meeting, it goes against all protocol," Lucy admits holding up her hands openly in front of her. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat stands at her open patio doors feeling the ocean breeze, she can't sleep. Her mind is whirling. She spent the evening on conference calls with her newsroom directing the coverage and story remotely, but this is too big of a story for her to sit on the sidelines, she needs to get to National City first thing in the morning.

She hears the fluttering of the cape first, then the soft sound of boots touching down outside.

"Supergirl," Cat says, a trace of annoyance in her voice.

The hero crosses the patio to stand before her. "You are upset," she replies evenly.

"A heads up that you were meeting with The President and a few World Leaders would have been nice," Cat snaps.

"There wasn't time. We went to brief The President and she immediately convened the League of Nations," Kara remarks. "I thought that you would be pleased, now you can return to National City," she adds proudly

"I am. But this seems anti-climatic, how were you able to de-escalate the situation so quickly?" Cat questions.

Kara looks away pensively. She knows that she promised Cat an exclusive, but it would be premature to tell her anything right now. "All I can say at this time is that the threat to your safety has ended," she replies.

"The threat to my safety has ended?" Cat asks confused. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It means that those who were threatening you are no longer doing so," Kara answers seriously.

"Perfect." Cat spits out angrily. "Kara, do you have any idea how difficult it has been this week? You barely kept in contact with me! And then suddenly everything has been worked out," Cat blurts out the beginning of an angry tirade as she paces the small patio.

Kara smiles softly to herself waiting for the smaller blonde to run out of steam.

"Just why are you here exactly?" Cat finally asks.

"Catherine?" Kara says softly watching carefully to see if the woman is just catching her breath or if she's done for the moment.

"Cat, no one calls me Catherine," she points out tiredly. Even though she really doesn't mind hearing her full name pronounced with Kara's slight accent and emphasis on the first syllable.

"Catherine," Kara says again moving closer, she can hear Cat's heart racing in her chest.

Cat struggles to not react to the warmth radiating from the other woman. Hesitantly, she looks up at her and it is a mistake. The anger she was trying to hold onto dissipates as soon as their eyes meet.

"I sent you the all clear message as soon as I could. I went to CATCO first, thinking that you would already be there," Kara says softly taking another step closer. "If I had known that you were here waiting for me, I would have been here sooner."

"We decided to wait until morning. Well, I decided to wait. I wanted to see you here, one last time," Cat replies still holding her gaze.

"Why would it be the last time?" Kara asks, slightly confused. It feels like they are building to something more, but maybe she has misread the situation.

Cat looks away, breaking the eye contact, so that she can say this. "I assume that once your people are all here on Earth, things will change. And this, whatever this is, will change as well," she replies hesitantly.

"Do you want it to change?" Kara queries, her voice even, but her eyes betray her emotions.

The question surprises Cat, but one look at the emotion on the hero's face and her resolve crumbles. She rushes to close the distance between them and Kara wraps her arms around the smaller woman, their lips crashing together.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"When I imagined us here at my beach house it was a much different scenario," Cat says playfully as they lay on a blanket on the beach under the stars.

"So you were imagining us here together," Kara replies brightly, raising up on one elbow to better see her.

"Yes, I remember something about you loving the ocean and surfing. And well, there is a board in the garage that I would love to see you on," Cat teases. Idly watching Kara intertwining their fingers.

Abruptly, Kara stops and turns her face away. "Cat, what will your family think about you being with an alien?"

"Kara, what will your family think about you being with an alien?" Cat retorts smartly.

Kara takes a deep breath before confessing, "Kryptonians feel that they are superior to every other race, so my family will not be pleased."

"I see. So you are assuming that because your family will not accept it, mine will not accept it either," Cat replies, wincing slightly at the remark about superiority.

Kara nods sadly.

"Well, my husband knows that I am bisexual, so he won't be surprised that I'm with a woman, he might even be impressed that it's you. My mother never thinks anyone is worthy of me, but then also thinks I'm not worthy of them, so she doesn't matter," Cat says lightly.

"And your sons?" Kara asks.

"My sons love me and want me to be happy. And the alien thing will probably make you cooler than anyone their father will date, so they'll accept you easily, I'm not concerned," Cat says reaching up to capture Kara's face in her hands.

"Kara, I will understand if you don't want this. I'll be disappointed, but I'll understand," Cat promises blinking back tears.

Kara slips her arms around the slim blonde and pulls her close, kissing her lightly at first. Cat bites Kara's lower lip hard enough to make the other woman gasp. As soon as Kara's lips part to protest, Cat plunges her tongue into Kara's mouth deepening the kiss.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Cat?" Lucy is walking out to the beach and she spies two figures wrapped in a blanket.

Clutching the blanket, Cat raises up. "Uh, I'll be right in," she says nudging Kara awake.

Lucy smiles and turns to go back into the house, she can't wait to tell Lois.

"Hey," Kara says sitting up slowly, a smile breaking across her face when she remembers why she is covered in sand.

"I haven't slept on the beach since... well, it's been a long time," she remarks a bit embarrassed.

"I have never slept like this on the beach," Kara says brightly leaning in to kiss her good morning.

Cat returns the kiss, then leans back on her heels to pull her robe back on. They spent the night talking and lying together on the beach, making out like teenagers.

"Kara, may I ask how old you are?" She asks suddenly.

"Earth years or Kryptonian?" Kara asks reaching over to grab the tac suit and shake the sand out of it. She took it off last night, since the t-shirt and shorts that she wears underneath it were more suitable for the beach.

"Both," Cat says shaking her head as she watches her pull the tac suit back on.

"Using your calendar, I am about twenty-five on earth, but almost thirty-five on Krypton," Kara answers easily doing the math in her head.

"Twenty-five?" Cat blurts out surprised that the alien is only a few years older than her oldest son.

"Yes, an earth year is 506 days on Krypton, that would make me younger here," Kara explains.

Cat still looks concerned but now she's distracted by the sight of Lois and Lucy coming out of the house.

"I should, um, I should get back to the house, we agreed to leave early this morning," Cat says distractedly.

"Why don't I take you?" Kara replies.

A bemused expression crosses Cat's face at the thought of flying in Kara's arms again. "How soon could you get us to my penthouse?" Cat asks.

"How soon do you want to be there?" Kara asks smiling with bravado.

Cat grins in return. "Then I'll tell them to go without me," she replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Details. Gimme the details. Were they naked?" Lois asks once the two of them are in the car on their way back to Calabasas.

"Not naked, but obviously cozy under that blanket," Lucy replies laughing. "Lo, did you know this about Cat, that she dates women?"

"There's not much that Cat and I don't know about each other," Lois answers. "But once she married Robert and moved to National City, we haven't been as close. Robert never liked me."

"Seriously?" Lucy questions, then remembering that her sister dated a woman once, she asks, "Why? Does he think the two of you were together?"

Lois doesn't respond. She remains faced forward, eyes on the road more focused than usual.

"Wait, you and Cat dated?" Lucy blurts out. "You and Cat Grant?"

"Not seriously, but we did at one time," Lois admits. Then hoping to change the subject, she asks. "How old do you think that girl is? Twenty-four?" 

Pulling out her phone, Lucy does a few calculations. "If she's twenty-five on Earth, she would be mid-thirties on Krypton, their time is shorter than ours," she explains.

"Hmm, so thirty-five and looks twenty-five, I'd take that ratio in a heartbeat," Lois jokes.

"No kidding. Her skin if flawless too. I wonder how living on earth will affect her long-term though," Lucy asks curiously.

"I guess we'll find out, since her whole race is coming here to settle in," Lois replies.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Where is she?" Kara blurts out as she enters the DEO Command Center.

"She's with Agent Danvers and Henshaw in the office," Vasquez replies, glancing up from her console.

Approaching the door, Kara can feel the tension in the room. She flings open the door and enters, just in time to see Hank and Astra about to face off with Alex between them.

"Hey, what's going on?" Kara questions.

"Non and Indigo took the prison ship, we don't know where they went, but they are together," Alex replies first.

"He left me. That woman is like a virus, I never should have left him alone with her," Astra snaps. "And I could track them down with your pod, but the martian won't let me have it."

"Astra, have you contacted Krypton to see if they can track the ship?" Kara asks going over to her aunt.

"No, I haven't. I didn't want to admit to your mother that she was right about Non," Astra replies angrily.

"Now is not the time for this Astra, that ship is the only way to save everyone," Kara points out, taking Astra's hand and pulling her towards the door.

"I'll go first and have Vasquez set up the link," Alex says moving quickly past them, she knows that Hank wants to talk with them alone.

"Listen, this can't happen out there. I am Hank Henshaw to my people, you cannot refer to me as a martian in public," he says angrily moving in front of the two women.

"I didn't say it in front of the public, just Alex," Astra snaps back at him.

"Yeah, well Agent Danvers only found out because of Kara," Hank grumbles. "Look, it's best for all of us if I run the DEO, but the people in charge may not agree if they find out that I'm not really Hank Henshaw."

"Fine." Astra replies quickly.

"The link should be set up," Kara points out. "Astra, just let me do the talking," she says leading them out of the office.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Mother, the ship is enroute," Kara says confidently, although she worriedly looks over at Agent Vasquez to question the weak connection.

Vasquez shrugs, "Their signal is weak," she explains softly.

"We're not able to track the ship," Kara begins to explain, but is cut off by Alura talking over her.

"Argo City is becoming increasingly unstable," Alura admits worriedly, "We need to evacuate soon."

"Alura, can you track the ship or not?" Astra asks impatiently.

"We will try, but our systems aren't working properly in this unstable environment," Alura replies turning towards her husband.

"When do you think it will arrive? We'll need to evacuate quickly," Zor-El adds stepping into view.

Kara bites her lip nervously. She's unsure how to tell them that the ship may not be coming. Tearfully, she looks over at Astra for strength.

"Non and Indigo left sometime in the night, they should be there mid morning tomorrow, if they utilize the accelerated warp drive," Astra answers quickly.

"Non and Indigo?" Zor-El repeats, glancing over to his wife.

"If Non is with her, then she is betraying you and therefore us. They will go to Kandor," Alura points out, grimacing slightly at the realization that it's over. The only people whom they can save now are their closest family members, there are only a few personal pods left in their family fleet.

Jor-El sensing the same realization takes her hand. "Thank you for letting us know, we've got a lot to discuss now," he says ending the transmission abruptly.

Kara cries out, "Mother! Father!"

Astra takes her hand and pulls her in tightly. "Let me take the pod, I can fix this, Kara. I will go to Kandor and commandeer that ship and bring everyone to earth!" She exclaims confidently.

"Astra, the pod isn't as fast as the ship, you may not even get there in time," Kara points out tearfully.

"I have to try Kara. I will make them listen to me," she says wiping her niece's tears away softly. "Let me try to be the hero this time?" she asks softly.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat looks up from her computer and notices Kara hovering just outside her balcony.

"Kara?" She questions as she opens the door.

"I just ..." Kara hesitates, then adds, "you look busy. I'll come back."

"Don't leave, Kara," Cat replies closing the glass door behind her and leaning back against it to wait for Kara to land.

Kara looks away a moment, but when she turns back to Cat she sees soft green eyes full of concern. Kara smiles slightly, before landing lightly on the balcony. "I just..." she chokes out and Cat rushes to her.

"Tell me what's happened?" Cat asks softly placing her hands on Kara's shoulders.

"Nothing. Everything. I don't know what's happening," Kara blurts out stoically.

Cat takes a moment before responding. Then takes Kara's hand and pulls her to the couch to sit down.

Kara sits down and leans back. Placing her hands over her face, before saying "I feel like I am about to lose everything. My planet. My family. I just feel so alone."

Cat slides her arms around Kara and pulls her close. "I'm here," she whispers softly.

Kara closes her eyes and allows herself to feel the warmth and comfort that Cat is offering, when suddenly a blast of noise through the comslink causes her to grab her ear.

"Kal-El?" She says shaking her head before clambering to her feet.

"Kara," he replies. "I can't get through to anyone in Argo City, have you heard anything?" Kal asks worriedly.

"Kal-El, I spoke to them a few hours ago and the link wasn't strong," Kara replies, hesitating to say anything more.

"When will they evacuate? Do you know?" He asks.

"I'm not sure. The ship left yesterday, but Non was on board, so we don't know if it will go to Argo City," Kara explains. "And Astra took my pod to try to catch up to them. Kal-El, I don't know if there's enough time for an evacuation."

Kal-El remains silent a moment. "If I leave now, I can rescue half of the population," he finally suggests.

"Kal-El, Almerac only agreed to allow children and if there's no evacuation... well, those children need you there," Kara points out.

"Kara, I can't just sit here and do nothing!" He blurts out.

"You're not doing nothing. The people of Argo City trusted you with their children, Kal-El. You are exactly where you need to be and you cannot risk taking that ship back to Krypton, the planet isn't stable. It could be damaged or worse," Kara reminds him.

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Cat sits quietly, she only heard Kara's side of the conversation, but she now has an idea of what exactly is going on.

"I guess you overheard that," Kara says over her shoulder, her eyes trained on the night sky above them.

Cat murmurs yes as she walks over to stand beside her. "What is it that you see up there?"

"Nothing really," Kara says with a shrug. "There's too much light here in the city for me to see much," she adds.

"Kara, would you stay with me tonight?" Cat asks placing her hand over Kara's on the railing.

The tall blonde smiles sadly at the contact. "Cat, I have to go back to the base tonight. I don't know if there's anything that I can do, but I want to be ready just in case," Kara explains.

"Okay," Cat replies and she does understand, but it doesn't make it any easier to be left out.

Kara turns to pull Cat in closer, bending down, she kisses her softly. "May I take you home? I need to know that you are home safe tonight."

"I will on one condition. You have to promise to update me, even if it is just a text message. I care about you and I don't want you to go through any of this alone," Cat replies placing her hands on Kara's shoulders and staring intently into her eyes.

Kara gulps at the intensity of Cat's request. "I will make sure that you are updated," she promises.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

"Have you heard anything?" Alex asks when Kara returns to the DEO that night.

"I spoke with Kal-El, he was worried because he couldn't get a hold of anyone in Argo City," Kara explains.

"So he is still on Almerac?" Hank questions.

"Yes sir, he is. But he wanted to go to Argo City to rescue people, but I reminded him that Almerac will not accept any more refugees and the ship that he has is not large enough to save them all," she answers.

"Showing up with a smaller ship could cause panic, he could end up with too many people on board and then he wouldn't be able to rescue anyone," Hank points out.

"We don't even know how much time they have left," Alex counters.

Kara runs her hand through her hair in frustration. "Can we pull up the satellite view of Krypton?" She asks.

"Nothing has changed," Vasquez replies pulling up the link and putting it on the overhead command center screen.

Kara watches it a few minutes, before her Krypton comlink comes to life.

"Astra?" She shouts. "Astra can you hear me?"

"Kara...Kandor...Non," only a few words come through clearly...

"Mom?" Kara yells. "Mom, what about Non and Kandor?" Unsure whether she's talking to her Aunt or her mother, Kara paces and focuses on the transmission link.

"Can you pull this frequency into our system so that we can analyze it?" Alex asks Agent Vasquez. The agent nods and begins to track the call, a few minutes later and the static and chaos floods the room. Kara flinches at all of the sound and walks away.

Outside the DEO base, she looks up towards Krypton and focuses all of her energy on hearing and seeing what is going on. The next words that she can make out are - "Ship... here... Kal-El."

"No, Kal-El wasn't supposed to..." Kara's words trail off as she is interrupted by loud cacophony of sound.

She rushes back inside just in time to see bursts and flashes of lights where her planet should be.

"Nooooo," she cries out shaking her head slowly.

Alex goes to her and places a hand on her shoulder. "Kara," she says firmly as she can feel the woman about to rush away. "Kara stay here, there's nothing you can do now."

"I-I can't. I have to do something," Kara blurts out wildly glancing over to Hank, but he is gone.

"J'onn is stronger and can breathe in space longer than you can," Alex says taking intertwining their fingers and pulling Kara in to hold her tightly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Okay, don't hate me but this is the end of part 1. Part 2 has already been outlined and I'll be writing it off-line, as unfortunately, I am in the process of moving 2200 miles for a new job. I'm not sure when I will be able to begin posting again, but if you are following this story, then I will post an epilogue to let you know when the next one is posted.


End file.
